The Long Meaningful Ramble 1: Origins
by reddwarfaddict
Summary: Too much alcohol is never a good thing…or maybe it’s just an excuse? These are the events after a drunken night between the Doctor and Rose, but soon an unknown force is chasing Rose, and the Doctor really doesn’t know why. TenRose. Major DoctorWhump.
1. Hangover

**A/N: **Disclaimer: If I wrote Doctor Who, people would run screaming from their TVs. So, you should be glad I don't own it :)

Okay, since it seems there's been a slight technical hiccup with Lonely Angel, I'll post this one gradually for your amusement until I can get it sorted. And then, depending how this one works out, I'll either delete it, or keep posting it :P

This is my ramble fic. If I feel like writing humour, I write it, then shove it in this fic somewhere. If I feel like angst...in it goes. There is a plot BTW, but basically, this is what goes on inside a thirteen year old girl's mind. Well, soon to be fourteen. Twelve days then it's my b'day. Woo.

Don't take it seriously :P I've destroyed my rules with this fic. But I wanted to write a Ten/Rose at some point, I guess. I just wanted that...denial about it all.

Anyway, I talk too much.

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Chapter 1 - Hangover

"Oh my _head…" _The Doctor groaned loudly, clamping a heavy hand to his forehead as pain rippled right through it. He tried to open his tired eyes, but he was forced to immediately close them tightly back up again as the searing bright light became too much. For a while he didn't move, hurting too much and too weak to get up. He didn't know how long he layed there, eyes closed, facing up to the ceiling.

But then the most horribly, terribly, hideously, horrifically, unbearable voice at that precise moment in time broke the light morning atmosphere.

"Oh my _head…" _Rose's voice said from alarmingly close to him – in his bed.

He layed abnormally rigid at the sound of the voice, absolutely paralysed under the bed covers as his jaw dropped into a silent, terrified scream. He felt the bed move and heard the bedsprings squeak as he had that sudden, unnerving feeling of being watched.

He turned his head, and saw Rose staring at him with her eyes wide open, as likewise so was he. It was a few moments before either of them spoke, but then Rose's expression turned to utter fury as she filled in the missing gaps in her memory…

"I can't believe you took advantage of me!" Rose yelled irately, yanking the cover off of The Doctor and pulling it up around herself, shielding her naked body from his prying eyes. He immediately launched onto his feet like he'd just been stung, totally ignoring the fact he only had boxers on, and completely forgetting that his head was pounding like it was repeatedly being hit with a baseball bat.

"I didn't take advantage of you!" he protested, running his left hand up and down his right arm, trying to calm his nerves. "I can't even remember last night!

"You got me pissed and then you knocked me up!" Rose retorted back, getting onto her feet with the cover still wrapped tightly around her.

"How can you think I'd do something like that?(!)" The Doctor yelled back, waving his arms madly about in the air in protest. "I thought you knew me better than that!"

Rose tried to calm herself down, taking long, deep breaths.

"Okay, so we got drunk, then had sex. Well, more than sex. _Amazing_ sex, infact," Rose summarised. "But that doesn't change anything, right?"

"Right," The Doctor confirmed with a nod, reverting back to rubbing his arm.

"So, it's a totally one off thing."

"Never happened before, never will again."

"What's done is done."

"And we can't change it."

"Right," Rose muttered.

"Right," The Doctor repeated, and then it went back to that uncomfortable silence.

"Did you use a…?" Rose trailed off, now getting slightly worried. The Doctor just shrugged – he seriously couldn't remember past 8:00pm the night before. Rose pondered for a moment, before shaking her head in a negative. "Just as well really," Rose continued without thinking, "it probably wouldn't fit in."

Her jaw dropped.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't…I mean…there wasn't…it's not…" she babbled, shuffling guiltily towards the door.

"Rose," The Doctor started, still in mild shock. "Your mother doesn't have to know about this, does she?"

"Oh…mum…" Rose muttered, hugging the cover much more tightly around her. "Well…it's not like this is going to be repeated is it? I mean…this was just a momentary lapse of concentration."

"Right." The Doctor was now vigorously rubbing his arm so much is was starting to turn a deep shade of red.

"We were drunk, we didn't know what we were doing."

"Right."

"As far as we're concerned – it didn't happen."

"Right."

"I mean, you can't even remember it, so to you it didn't even happen."

"Right."

"And I'll never mention it again."

"Right."

"Can you stop saying 'right'?"

"You got it." The Doctor replied, glancing around on the floor for any sign of his clothes; the uncomfortable draught he wasn't used to feeling was starting to make itself noticed. Rose could see his shivering, and suddenly felt slightly guilty at her first reaction.

"Sorry," she muttered, spotting a large t-shirt abandoned on the floor. She ducked down out of his view and pulled it over herself – it was so big it reached halfway down her thighs. Standing back up again, she walked over to the shivering Doctor, dragging the cover behind her loosely. She threw it around him and pulled the ends together at his chest, turning him into an ancient Egyptian mummy, its corpse held rigid under its bandages.

He gazed at her for a moment, before looking up at the ceiling, his expression confused.

"Why's it so cold?" he asked the ceiling, and Rose heard the TARDIS reply in a series of clicks and rattles like it normally did. She looked up at him, and had to stop herself from bursting out laughing as he started to turn the deep red shade of pure embarrassment.

"What?" Rose asked, pulling the cover tighter around him to get his attention.

"Err…she says I asked her to turn it down last night during our little…" he paused in consideration. "…Liaison, because apparently it was getting a little hot."

"Oh," was all Rose was able to reply to that sentence, and let her eyes stray down to the soft carpet she was standing on. She caught a glimpse of his two bare feet, and suddenly found her hormones reaching a little higher. She gently lifted the cover off of his legs, and began to observe them with undisguised interest.

"Rose?" The Doctor watched her ogle his legs.

"You have _really _nice legs," Rose commented, kneeling down to run a hand over the lower part of his left leg.

"Err…thanks," The Doctor said hesitantly, trying not to yelp as Rose's hand strayed past his knee for a few seconds. He looked towards the Heavens again, addressing the TARDIS.

"TARDIS," he started, mildly distracted by Rose feeling his legs up. "Rose…can you stop…TARDIS, where are my clothes?" He was answered with the usual clicks and rattles, and his expression slowly got more and more embarrassed as the TARDIS reached the end of her explanation.

"…I'll wear something else."

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**A/N: **After your eyes have stop glazing over, be a friend and review:P


	2. Melting Cheese

**A/N: **Yes, I did change the title BTW :P

And wOOt! I'm glad you guys like it :D If any of you manage to think of a half decent summary along the way..._pleeeease_ tell me, 'cause I can't think of one. Even if it's just pissing about, or whatever. 'Cause this fic is basically like a pathwork quilt - bits from other things all sown together to make one story.

Ooo. I like that metaphor... :)

Anyway...what was I gonna say? ...No, can't remember :-/ Oh well. I'll tell you later.

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Chapter 2 – Melting Cheese

Now dressed in blue jeans, a white shirt and a zip up black hoody, The Doctor felt more like a hobo than a nine hundred year old Timelord from outer space. He wondered how hard Jackie would hit him if she knew he and her daughter had found a personal interest in one another on drunken night – then wondered if there was an ambulance ready and on call for people who'd received Jackie Tyler slaps.

Because hell, he would be needing one – very, very badly.

Actually, he wouldn't mind one now. Even the far distant hum of cars in the background seemed like an aircraft inches above his head. He and Rose had slept in until a record-breaking 5:00pm to try and ward off the fatigue from the hangover. He'd then spent twenty minutes trying to remember where the wardrobe was, and a further forty minutes straining to recall the process in which you got dressed. The next thirty minutes he'd just stared at the dematerialisation column in the TARDIS, wishing he knew how to operate it.

He finally recollected his forgotten Timelord programming abilities, then set back to Jackie's to retrieve their clothes.

The plan was this; The Doctor would distract Jackie while Rose gave an excuse to leave the room. She then run to her bedroom and pick up The Doctors and her abandoned clothes from last night. But as The Doctor pointed out – how the hell did they wake up in TARDIS while their clothes were still in the flat?

Somehow he wished he could remember last night. It was disappointing the night he'd had Rose was to be wiped from his memory for the rest of time. He struggled to reach back into his mind, stretching out an imaginative hand to grab hold of a memory, _any _memory. Lla…llamas? Was it something to do with llamas?

Rose lifted a hand to ring the doorbell of Jackie Tyler's flat at precisely 6:30pm, feeling slightly sick. She'd thrown up twice that morning – and this wasn't just normal sick. This was projectile vomiting. Most of her hangover symptoms had now gone after eight hours recuperation, but wondered how The Doctor must feel. He'd had ten times more than her, and couldn't even remember what had gone on the previous night.

She glanced sideward at The Doctor, seeing his face screwed up in immense effort. She gave him a nudge and he instantly looked down at her, face turning content.

"What's up?" she asked, and for a moment he looked confused.

"Rose…" he started with a frown. "Did we joyride some llamas from the zoo last night?"

Rose never got the chance to answer this rather strange question as the door to the flat suddenly swung inwards, revealing a distracted Jackie holding a plate in one hand and a wet chequered teacloth in the other. Upon sight of Rose, she threw the rugged looking teacloth and plate straight at The Doctor - who only just about caught them in time through his impaired reactions - and threw her arms around Rose in a massive hug.

"Why'd you leave so quickly this mornin'?" Jackie questioned over her daughters shoulder, and was only met by a shrug.

"We had places to go."

Jackie pulled out of her hug with her only daughter, meeting The Doctor, scanning over with her eyes. Immediately a disgusted look came onto her face, and The Doctor pulled a face back.

"Always draggin' my daughter off before I 'ave a chance to say goodbye! And what the _'ell _are you wearing?"

The Doctor sighed dejectedly. "Y'see Jackie," he started, his voice pumped full of sarcasm, "to make a thing we call 'clothes', first of all, the sheep is shorn for it's wool, and then-"

He ducked the oncoming slap and slipped quickly behind Rose's body, using her as a human shield. He couldn't imagine a child friendly situation if he told her about his and Rose's little confrontation in the TARDIS – and was just glad that he'd _never _have to tell her about it.

"Right," Rose interrupted before either of them could even begin their usual routine fight. "I'm fed up with your continuous arguments."

Jackie smiled widely, folding her arms, victorious. "Y'hear that Doctor?"

"Both of you!" Rose interrupted as The Doctor opened his mouth to retort. "No more arguments – I'm serious."

There was a brief moment of silence, before The Doctor nodded to Rose, taking her hand into his own.

"Sure."

"Yep," Jackie concurred. There was another brief moment of blissful silence, until Jackie said through gritted teeth in obviously forced politeness, "I'm _so _glad to see you again, Doctor."

"It's _great_ to see you too Jackie." He smiled, the subtle hint of sarcasm hidden by the forced pleasantness, which came out as a monotone.

"Why don't you come inside?(!)" Her painfully strained politeness continued, along with his.

"I'd love too, thank you Jackie. I must say, you look beautiful today." The sarcasm was enough to melt cheese with.

"Why thank you Doctor, you are being oh so nice today." She could hardly stop herself from jumping forward and slapping him hard.

"Make the most of it," he answered through the gritted teeth, before Rose interrupted the conversation.

"Sorry to break up this polite tête-à-tête, but I'm getting kind of cold here."

"Of course, Rose! Come in!" Jackie suddenly turned unhealthy joyous, before turning to The Doctor, the same monotone coming out her mouth as before. "Come inside Doctor, I'll fix you a drink."

"How very sweet of you Jackie," he replied just as dully, before Jackie spotted his and Rose's hand joined…as _one…_and her eyes widened incredulously.

Spotting Jackie's glare, The Doctor let Rose's hand slip from his grasp indistinctly, but Rose absently sought it out again, giving it a quick squeeze. He flashed her a grin, and treated Jackie with a winning smile and a shrug. Jackie just scowled behind Rose's back as Rose led The Doctor through the front door and into the sitting room.

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**A/N: **Oh! I remember! How's my chapter naming going? This one's called 'Melting Cheese'...for a reason you might be able to spot; and the next one's called 'Balls Of Steel'...also for reasons you'll see immediately. Yes, this is the filth that goes on inside my head during the day :P

AND I'VE GOT TO STOP USING BLOODY HYPHENS! THEY'RE ALL OVER THE EFFIN' PLACE!

(Calms)

Review. Pwease? I still need to know whether to keep posting this after Royal Mail sort themselves out...humph.


	3. Balls Of Steel

**A/N: **Hehe, I'm glad this is going down well with you guys :D I feel honoured! (Throws rose petals over all reviewers) Uberness:)

I'm sorry for the length of this chapter, but I couldn't find anywhere to cut it into two in a neat way. Next chapter's called Ginger Irishman, BTW. Well, I'm 80 sure it's called that anyway. Wow. This is a bloody short A/N. Everyone cheer! Wooo!

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Chapter 3 – Balls Of Steel

"Wait here," Jackie had told him sternly before disappearing into the kitchen to make him and Rose a drink. "Don't touch anythin'. Don't _breathe _on anythin'."

"Yes ma'am." The Doctor gave a mock salute and he fell down onto the living room sofa, looking around the decorated room with mild interest. It was surprising how many framed photos Jackie had of her only daughter in her living room. Without thinking, he got up and walked silently over to the carved oak shelf above the fireplace, glancing over the many, many photos wedged between various ornaments.

He reached up and took a silver framed photo down from the wooden shelf, slipping on his glasses to look at it closer. It was a photo of a twenty year younger looking Jackie holding baby Rose in her arms, and there was Peter Tyler. His arm was draped loosely around Jackie's shoulders, a smile beaming all over his face. Who was to know that man's destiny was to be killed in a car accident just a few months later?

"That's my favourite photo," said an unexpected voice from behind him suddenly, nearly making him drop the picture in surprise. He wheeled quickly around to see Jackie staring at him with her arms folded defiantly, and The Doctor hastily slipped off his glasses, stuffing them speedily into his pocket.

"Sorry," he muttered guiltily. He put the photo gently back onto the shelf, intending to leave all photos well alone, but as he drew his hand away it knocked an ornament, which instantly went flying down off the shelf and towards the floor.

"Sorry!" he yelled, diving just in time to catch the china elephant, and he carefully put it strategically back on the shelf. "Sorry," he said quietly again, backing slowly away from the shelf, smashing straight into the coffee table.

"Sorry!" he shouted again, hearing something drop to the floor as a pain started throbbing in his leg. He quickly jogged over to pick up the wooden box that had fallen, putting it back on the table. He promptly straightened up, but inevitably his knee hit the table underneath with such force the whole thing toppled over and everything on and in it went crashing to the floor.

"Sorry!" He receded away in surprise, ignoring the pulsating pain that was now in his knee, backing straight into the shelf above the fireplace. The right shelf support finally decided after years of supporting ten tonnes of weight to dislodge slightly, but it was enough. The wood slanted down diagonally, the ornaments and photos sliding down like a ball on a hill, hitting the stone floor around the fireplace with a smash.

"Sorry…sorry…sorry…" The Doctor rhythmically said after each object smashed onto the stone. He flinched as each smash came, after fifteen he lost count of how many smashes and 'sorry's there were, but when the ending finally did come, there was a brief moment of blissful silence.

Just as The Doctor was set to run from the oncoming Jackie, the right support broke altogether and the oak shelf came swiftly swinging down, narrowly missing his leg, but hitting a far more delicate place a few inches right.

The pain was instant.

He swore extremely loudly and for a very long time, thankfully in Gallifreyian. He doubled over in utter agony as the shelf slowed down it's swinging, now only held by one feeble bolt through the wall.

He should have moved his foot. He should have. He knew that shelf wouldn't last long, and if he bothered to move then the next collision wouldn't have happened.

But it did.

The nail gave up holding the shelf, and the entire thing fell down to the floor, the only obstruction being The Doctor's left foot. Despite how painful his crushed foot now was, the pain was diminutive compared to the one he was experiencing right now a little further up.

Words couldn't express the overall pain right now. This was pain being extremely painful. This was pain after pain had eaten pain for breakfast and drove in pain into Paintown to shop for pain in the agony shop. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes from the constant, undeniable pain, pain, pain.

So instead, he just whimpered silently, falling down sideways onto the refreshingly fluffy rug. He buried his face into the wonderfully soft material, hoping to god Jackie had gone to make a cup of tea and had missed all of this.

But as he felt someone stand tall over him, he had a sudden neural impulse to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction. But he couldn't move for the agony. He was totally helpless, so instead, he just cried out in a small but high voice,

"Please don't hit me Jackie!"

Then he heard Rose's laugh.

"Didn't mum say not to touch anything?"

"Mmm," he squeaked, though he didn't want to talk. Just lay here for a few minutes. Or hours. Or days. Weeks. Weeks were good.

"You going to get up?" Rose asked, and he shook his head slowly in reply. "Alright, get up, now." Rose grabbed on of his weak arms and tried to pull forcedly on it, but he was dead weight.

"Let me die here," he said quietly to the floor, and could hear Jackie laughing from somewhere over the other side of the room. Nine hundred years of space travel and he'd never experienced or envisioned being rendered useless in this way infront of his companion's mother.

"Fine! Lay there if you like." Rose was almost in fits of laughter, dropping his arm and sitting down next to him crossed-legged, watching his face expectantly. "You're s'posed to be a nine hundred year old alien Timelord super race, and you're tellin' me you ain't got balls of steel?"

"Yes," The Doctor mumbled quietly.

"It was only a little hit!"

"It was pure oak!" The Doctor protested with a little more power. "I mean, _why _do you humans put a wooden shelves above fireplaces _right _where it's a liability to others? Especially people with a certain type of manlihood to sustain?"

"Okay, slow down there, you're gettin' irritable." Rose impatiently grabbed both his arms and started dragging him towards the sofa. "Gimme a hand mum!" she gasped.

Jackie slowly strode over, savouring every second of his pain. She grabbed The Doctor's legs, intending to lift him onto the sofa with Rose.

"Ow! Watch the ankle!" The Doctor cried out, and on impulse Jackie dropped his left foot where it hit the floor with a thud. "Ow!" The Doctor cried out again, and Rose gave him a gentle whack over the head.

"Stop moaning!" She pulled his top half onto the sofa before Jackie pushed the rest of him on.

"Mum, can you go get some ice or somethin'?" Rose asked, sitting on the sofa next to his feet and pulling off The Doctor's shoe and sock, revealing an unhealthily swollen looking foot. "Alright, what am I looking for?" Rose carefully propped the ankle onto a royal red felt cushion, examining it thoroughly.

"Well, for a broken ankle, pain, swelling, pain, bruising, pain, bleeding, pain, sticking out pieces of bone and…oh, _pain," _he finished dimly.

"Well, you've got swelling, there aren't any bones sticking out…bruising looks pretty bad…no blood though."

"Ow!" The Doctor yelled as she pressed firmly on his ankle.

"And I'm guessing we have pain." She grinned evilly at his aggrieved face, and he just glared at her with an extremely sarcastic smile. "So what does that mean anyway?"

"Probably just bruising from the impact." He raised a small smile. "Which means I'll be walking in about ten minutes. Then we can get out of here."

"That by _far _is the most _pathetic _way I have _ever _seen _anyone _hurt their ankle."

Those were the motivating words that came from Jackie Tyler's mouth as she dropped a bag of frozen peas onto his head before adding, "think yourself lucky I didn't film it and send it into You've Been Framed!"

"Thanks Jackie, I love you too." The Doctor smiled sweetly, wincing as Rose took the frozen peas and pressed them firmly onto his swollen ankle.

"You are a complete and total idiot. You know that, don't you?" Rose was finding this almost as hysterical as Jackie was.

"It was her fault!" The Doctor gestured towards Jackie, who was still smiling.

"D'you want any frozen peas for the other area?" she asked, trying not to laugh.

"Oh go throw yourself off a cliff."

"Yes. Sorry." Though she didn't sound sorry, just highly amused. He could only glare at her from where he lay as she gave a medical box to Rose, smiling her annoying smiley smile then just made you want to hit something.

Well, that's what The Doctor was feeling right now.

Jackie really couldn't contain her immense joy at The Doctor's pain. "I bet you got a 'angover and all!"

Rose and The Doctor both froze.

"How d'you know we were drunk?" Rose asked, exchanging a worried glance with The Doctor, pausing in her actions to bandage his foot.

"Well, it was a bit obvious Rose," Jackie tutted at her daughter's ignorance. "Especially after The Doctor came runnin' in, jumped into the swivel chair, span 'round three times yellin', 'wheeee!' then fell off onto the floor."

Rose couldn't help it. She burst out laughing. Catching The Doctor's stare, she quickly shut her mouth, biting her tongue to stop another onset of laughter as she wound the last of the bandage around The Doctor's foot.

"Oh come on," she gave The Doctor a playful push. "You gotta admit – that _is _a bit funny."

"I dunno what you're laughin' at Rose – you _were_ the one tryin' to climb the wall usin' only your lips," Jackie added, and it was The Doctor's turn to laugh this time. Rose glared dangerously at him, before jumping into a sitting position on his stomach, which made him shut up immediately.

"And god only knows how the both of you got that banana costume…"

"Mum, I don't wanna hear anymore…" Rose started bouncing up and down on The Doctor's stomach to make it as uncomfortable as possible for him. "As long as we didn't join the scouts, I'm fine."

"You…in a scout's outfit!" The Doctor's grin became widespread as he dragged Rose off of his stomach so he could breathe again, and held her tightly to prevent her climbing back onto him.

Then the phone started ringing.

"Mine!" Rose yelled, stretching forward as far as she could to try and grab the phone sitting on the desk behind the sofa. The Doctor laxed his grip on her slightly as she stretched a little further, taking hold of the phone and pressing it to her ear.

"Hello?" She tried not to giggle down the line, incase the person on the other end got the wrong idea. There was a small muffle at the end, and something that sounded like static fizzled through the speaker of the phone.

"Hello?" Rose asked again, frowning in concentration. The Doctor gave her another tight squeeze and she couldn't help but burst into a set of helpless giggles.

"Sorry," she apologised down the phone, hitting The Doctor scoldingly with her free hand. "Doctor…will you get…hello?" she tried again, but the phone offered no reply past the static. "Line's dead." She was about to pull it away from her ear and pop it back onto its accompanying holder, when a single word in a scratchy, whiney voice said,

"Timelord…!"

All the colour drained from her face as she stared at the far wall, horrified.

"What?" she whispered in disbelief, praying and hoping she'd just misheard. There was no possible way anyone could know he was a Timelord that knew Jackie's home phone on Earth, who wasn't in this room.

Except…

"Mickey, if this is you, stop it. Just say what you wanna say."

There was more static, and Rose almost considered hanging up on the bastard. He _knew _how dangerous it was to go shouting out The Doctor was an alien, and that The Doctor would have to take the smash of the consequences if it leaked out.

She was about to tell him goodbye rather abruptly, when the voice, definitely not Mickey's said squeakily in its scream, _"you'd better watch your pretty little head Rose Tyler, 'cause I'm gonna get you, your Timelord and your baby a one way ticket to oblivion."_


	4. Ginger Irishman

**A/N: **My floppy discs are getting dodgier :-/ I've asked for a pen drive for my b'day...I kinda broke my last one. I have no idea how though...

Right, well I finally got my book - and there's been no drops for what I really new for Lonely Angel. But listening to this song with my parents having a loud discussion in the other room, I'm tempted just to give up researching, and post what I have. Even though it's gonna be like, totally wrong. But whatever. Not my problem. Well, it is...but hell.

Anyway, I've cut down on my hyphens! Yes, I have, and I'm feeling all glowy from reading all my reviews. So basically, I'm v. happy right now. (Eyes pile of homework) At least, sociably happy, not academically :-/

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Chapter 4 – Ginger Irishman

Rose heard the phone drop to the floor as her grip laxed from mild shock, panic vibes rushing through her like nothing she'd ever felt before. She slowly started backing away from where the phone lay like it was an omen, pulling away from The Doctor no the sofa and onto her feet.

"Rose?" came The Doctor's distant voice, and she felt a reassuring hand clamp down on each shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she tried to say to reassure him, but the words wouldn't come. She felt numb. The Doctor and she were in danger – but that was only phase one of the problem. Baby? What baby? She felt strong arms, The Doctor's, lift her up and put her down onto the sofa as Jackie picked up the abandoned phone from the floor.

"Hello?" she asked. There was a slight pause, but then she continued, "oh, hi Howard…"

"Rose! Come back to planet Earth! We're on it now!" The Doctor said loudly, waving his hand infront of her blank face, his expression concerned.

She unexpectedly opened her arms out and put them around his neck, pulling him into a friendly, much needed hug. Despite his confusion, The Doctor returned the hug with a few whispered comforts, sitting on the sofa next to her.

"Okay…okay…yeah…sure…yeah…" Jackie was saying down the line to Howard. Rose lowered her head onto The Doctor's shoulder, looking into his neck. He held her and swayed from side to side, the both of them staying quiet as Jackie finished the phone call. "See you in a minute!" She dropped the phone onto it's holder again and turned towards the pair, her eyes opening wide as she saw The Doctor holding Rose in his arms.

"What was all tha' about, ay?" she asked, trying to ignore the way in which Rose's head rested against his shoulder, the way his cheek layed on her hair, the way he held her in a protective hug, the way which he appeared gravely concerned for her well being…

"Don't," The Doctor said seriously to Jackie, but she just frowned at him.

"Now listen 'ere you, that's my daughter you're holdin' there, I 'ave a right to know what's goin' on!" Jackie barked back, but it appeared to be the very wrong thing to say at that moment in time to The Doctor.

He let go of Rose gently, making sure she was perfectly fine before bolting onto his feet, all pains ignored, face barely inches from Jackie's.

"It's obvious, _Jackie," _he hissed, his voice dangerously low. "That you don't know when to stop asking questions. So I'd just button it right now. If she doesn't want to tell you, she doesn't have to."

"But that ain't your decision is it?" Jackie continued, obviously not daunted from his tone of voice.

"It's not yours either." He stopped, waiting for her reply, but her vocabulary was as empty as her expression. "Good," he continued, "I'm glad we have a mutual understanding."

_Slap._

Rose winced as her mother's hand whipped straight across his face, making a huge cracking sound – almost like breaking a bone. She watched The Doctor cautiously, but he appeared not to be phased by it.

"Don't get any ideas, because if you hurt her in any way, you'll have me to answer to." and with this rather terrify spectacle of a sentence, he turned quietly away from Jackie and started walking towards the front door, hands in pockets. Rose watched him as he pushed open the door, slipped through, closing it quietly behind him.

A few seconds past silently, where only the sound of the shattered remains of the broken clock from the mantelpiece continued ticking in it's steady beat.

Then it came, inches from outside the door.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

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It seemed he couldn't go three seconds in Jackie Tyler's flat without hurting himself in some way. Evidently taking the hit to the more delicate part of his anatomy and smashing in his ankle under a heavy oak board had been the easy part.

He had only dreamt of the Jackie Tyler slap in nightmares. Now this had brought his total number of Jackie Tyler slaps up to a horrifying two – and he did NOT like that figure one bit.

He now was lying on the sofa in Jackie's flat, staring face up towards the ceiling. He observed noticeably that there were picked holes above his head, stabbed into the ceiling. Millions. He'd have to count them later.

Rose was lying to the left of him, both of them lazily watching the television as The Doctor had his arm around Rose's shoulders. She had seemed to mellow from the phone call, and was now starting to laugh at the Saturday evening sitcom, despite how hopelessly rubbish it was.

There was a small knock at the front door, but neither Rose nor The Doctor made any attempt to get up and answer it. But there was no point anyway, because Jackie went speeding over to the door faster than The Doctor had ever seen her run before, wrenching it open wide.

"Hello!" her very joyful voice said, "here…let me take that for ya…"

The Doctor sat up to vertical position, straining to see who it was out of interest. There a largely built man with short ginger hair and green eyes stood principally infront of him, absently munching on an apple. His bicep muscles were like rocks on his arms – hell, if this guy told you to do something, you'd do it straight away, no questions asked. He was almost Popeye-like in bodily appearance…after eating some spinach of course. The Doctor politely nodded to the man, extending his free hand out from where he lay holding Rose.

"Howard I presume?" he asked, and the man held his hand in a vice like grip, shaking it firmly. The Doctor felt something dislodge in his shoulder from the hard shake, but promptly decided to ignore it.

"'Ello there me laddy!" A sudden unexpected Irish accent came toppling from the man's mouth, and The Doctor grinned his widest grin of the day. "I must say, that's a hell of a firm grip you got there me boy!" Howard let go of his crushed hand and The Doctor looked beside himself with joy at the Irishman stood infront of him.

The Doctor had been expecting a dreary London accented Jack the Lad, who would try to sell him a disco toaster or something, but this was just brilliant. An Irishman? Good enough, but a _ginger_ Irishman? Great!

"Hi Howard," Rose started, looking up to him from her position next to The Doctor. "This is The Doctor."

"That's a bit of a strange name me laddy, but I used to know a Boris Borist, they don't come much more far-fetched than that! Howard O'Hanon, atcha service." He gave a cheery wave, and The Doctor's grin just got even wider.

"I bruised the Satsuma in your dressing gown at Christmas…" The Doctor suddenly recalled, stroking an imaginary beard. "Sorry."

"Ah, don't worry 'bout it me boy, you know Sainsbury's, t'was probably bruised anyway!" Howard joked, slapping a heavy hand on The Doctor's left shoulder, nearly making him cripple and fall off the sofa with the force.

It was then Howard spotted his slightly inflated left cheek, and looked amused.

"The mark of a Jackie Tyler slap, lad. What did you do?" Howard asked, touching his own cheek, recalling an old memory.

"I answered back." The Doctor didn't seem to have a hint of regret about it in his voice though. "And I'd do it again."

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Rose asked, nudging him slightly with a giggle. "I was perfectly capable of dealing with it myself."

"Not when you're paralysed by shock, you're not." The Doctor gave her a small nudge back. "Then off _she _goes, demanding answers for it. I had to step in. The slap meant nothing."

Rose started to trace her finger down his hurt cheek, smiling casually to herself. He caught her look, and sighed outwardly in a defeated manner.

"Okay, so it _was _something," he paused momentarily, cupping his hand over Rose's hand that was still caressing his cheek, before he admitted in a laden voice, "it was also not intended."

"Dinner's ready if any of you want it!" Jackie's voice suddenly sounded distantly from the kitchen. There was a brief pause between Rose and The Doctor, Rose too comfortable to move and The Doctor, to be frank, simply not caring for any kind of food. Rose then pulled herself up, climbing clumsily over The Doctor's stomach, before sliding her arms underneath him and dragging his unwilling body upright.

Rose then proceeded to motherly smooth down his ruffled clothes, and in return he began to brush her down, a little harder. Rose returned the favour by brushing down even harder than him, and soon Rose was slapping him playfully on the chest, a broad grin on her face. The Doctor quickly grabbed her slap prone hands, holding them rigid between them as a small smile crept onto his face.

"Y'coming for dinner Doctor?" Rose asked, looking at him pleadingly. The Doctor looked slightly hesitant for a moment, but a forceful hand pushed into his back firmly, making him involuntary stagger forward a couple of paces.

"Young lad like you needs to eat!" Came Howard's cheery voice, and The Doctor found himself nodding meekly in reply.

"You bet I do."

Rose led him across the kitchen to the worktop, where four clean bowls and a ton of spoons were sat, ready and waiting for usage. Rose took the top bowl and began to fill it up from the hotpot with a ladle, as The Doctor casually peered in the pot of food with a silent grimace.

"What's that then?" he asked Jackie precariously, trying to be as polite as he could to make a good impression.

"Beef stew," she replied, uninterested. Rose shoved a full bowl into his hands and he looked down at it, trying to mentally analyse it to find out whether it was actually edible.

Howard saw his slight hesitation and immediately miscalculated it as a signal for the lack of food in the bowl. Taking the bowl off of him, he spooned a few more ladles of the strange looking beef stew into his bowl, before handing it back to him, the substance now almost spilling out the sides of the bowl.

"Rose, a man needs man sized portions." Howard grinned at her and she returned it, looking up at The Doctor, who to the trained eye, was starting to turn a sickly green.


	5. Manly Meals

**A/N: **The genres are forever changing in this fic :P The next chapter I'd call drama genre, and the one after that tragedy/action/adventure. There is a slight element of humour, but it's kinda hard to slide in a joke or two when...well, y'know.  
BIIIG thank you to all reviewers, love ya to bits:D

Next chapter of Lonely Angel will be posted on my birthday - Saturday 14th October GMT. ;)

Chapter 5 – Manly Meals

"So laddy, whatcha do?" Howard asked interestedly as the four sat around the dinner table in the sitting room. The Doctor glanced across the table at Rose uncertainly, who just shrugged back at him. Obviously Jackie hadn't _quite _got around to telling him yet.

"I'm a traveller," he answered truthfully, ignoring Rose's glare.

"That sounds a little interesting dontcha think Jackie?" Howard smiled happily at Jackie, who gave a small, genuine looking smile in reply, although The Doctor knew this was a horribly forced smile. And he also knew what Howard was trying to do. He was trying to weigh him up to see if he was good enough for Rose. From common sense, The Doctor deducted that the next question would be about Rose, definitely.

"So does Rose travel with you?"

There you go.

"Yeah, she's…" he trailed off leaving it hanging in the air, unsure of how to finish the sentence. "She's…she's my…my…"

"Say no more me laddy! I can read ya like a book." Howard winked, but The Doctor was 100 sure he'd got the wrong idea.

"We're not in a relationship," The Doctor said hastily, trying desperately to ignore both Jackie and Rose's accusing stares. "She's just a friend."

"Well me laddy, if you ever wanna get hitched I'd give you me blessing."

There was the ever so slight of pauses, before The Doctor nodded and smiled in gratitude.

"Thanks."

…Ugh.

He dared to look over at Jackie, but she seemed insistant on totally ignoring him altogether, poking her stew on the plate. Rose on the other hand, had broken out of her state of shock and was trying to stop herself from giggling out loud.

The silence that followed this short but interesting discussion came as something of a relief to The Doctor, only the sound of spoons hitting bowls could be heard clanging and clinging across the dinner table.

The Doctor had managed to eat everything in his bowl, and even the slices of bread forced down his throat by the ever-forceful Howard. He was actually quite proud of these accomplishments. Rose had always observed that he never ate as much as any other man, and if this was the average size of a 'manly meal', she was probably right.

Rose began to stack the dirty bowls together, but The Doctor stopped her with a steadfast arm.

"I'll do it," he insisted, getting onto his feet, needing to find an excuse to get out of the deadpan atmosphere. Rose nodded, squeezing his arm to signal she understood.

The Doctor closed the kitchen door behind him delicately, leaning heavily against the wood with his eyes lightly closed. This had only intended to be a quick ten-minute trip, and it was now strolling into two hours.

He could hear the voices of the discussing humans quite clearly through the wooden door as he trudged over to the dishwasher with the stack of four bowls clutched in his arms. Humans. Stupid apes. They seemed to think sound waves just bounced right back off a door, never to be heard by the person on the other side.

"I think he's a great lad Rose," Howard's reassuring voice said, "so long as those friends of yers don't get anywhere near him."

"What friends?" Rose asked, obviously puzzled.

"Trish, Shareen, Karissa, Paris…" Howard began to reel off a list of names one after the other, which was swiftly interrupted by Jackie,

"As much as I hate to admit it Rose, he's a bit of a looker now." The Doctor tried not to make retching sounds after this sentence, but all the same, glanced in the mirror and licked a finger, smoothing down an eyebrow before messing fondly with his hair. "Which means they're going to be all over him soon…" the voices trailed off as The Doctor became immensely absorbed in smoothing down his sideburns.

Infact, he was so distracted, that the sound of the kitchen door opening didn't register in his mind, and he could only spin around in surprise when a sharp finger suddenly prodded into his shoulder.

"Rose!" he gasped, clutching his hearts in alarm. "Don't do that!"

"I'm not to one wallowin' in my own vanity!" she countered, reaching a hand up to smooth down his sideburns for him. "And look, I've mellowed down mum a bit for ya. Just 'ang around for a bit till you can look each other in the eye for more than five seconds, then we'll go. What d'you say?"

The Doctor looked slightly dubious, but before he could even reply Rose had taken his hand in her own, dragging him into the sitting room where he knew he wouldn't be able to escape…for the entire night.

----------

Once again The Doctor found himself staring at the familiar mass of holes in the ceiling above his head as once more they watched television, this time with Jackie and Howard in each other's embrace on the second sofa.

This sitcom was even worse than the last one, cheesy jokes and clichéd storylines all over the place. So, in all respect, The Doctor was sort of glad when the advert break came. He felt Rose snuggle closer into him, and was aware of his blood pressure rising. No. He wouldn't let it. He was totally cool about it. No problems.

"Comfort know the importance of soft clothes…" the voice over said, with a giant image of a baby sleeping on the screen. "That's why our research is supported by the British Skin Foundation…"

Rose stared at the advert, the squeaky voice on the other end of the line coming back to haunt her…

"_I'm gonna get you, your Timelord and your baby a one way ticket to oblivion."_

Maybe later she'd get a pregnancy tester – just to reassure herself there was absolutely _nothing _in her abdomen apart from her own vital organs.

"Huggie's new stretchy nappies…stretchificated!" Babies leapt about the screen, and Rose felt herself get even more rigid. This was unnerving; the fact that every advert during this break so far had been in some relation to babies. She could feel her heart starting to pump twice the speed it should have been as she slowly got more and more doubtful about her confidence that she had nothing down there…

"If you're a homeowner and you need a loan, why not call us, the C.H.E.A.P.B.A.S.T.A.R.D Homeowner Loan Giver People…"

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"So YOU can feed your baby!"

Great.

"Did you know, 3/10 women get pregnant despite being on the pill?"

She began to fidget, obviously on a knife's edge.

"Smoking can seriously affect the blood flow to your penis…"

"If you're 16-20 and you need advice on sexual relationsh-"

"FOR GOD'S SAKE, I GET THE MESSAGE!" Rose suddenly screamed, tearing away from The Doctor as she launched onto her feet, thoroughly pissed off.

"Rose?" The Doctor asked edgily, getting onto his feet and standing infront of her, running a consoling hand down her long blonde hair. Rose let him do it for a few seconds, before she suddenly turned away and bolted to the front door.

"I'm going out, two seconds, I'll be right back!" she yelled behind her as the door closed, and The Doctor was now left standing staring into an empty space. He looked down at the floor, wondering where he might have gone wrong.

----------

Rose was seeing red.

Not a _lot _of red, mind, just a tiny prick of red on a plastic stick.

To anyone who had no idea what that plastic stick _was, _the way she reacted to this tiny speck of light would have seemed slightly over exaggerated and very, very strange.

She burst into tears.

She was pregnant…with The Doctor's baby. Why god, why? If this didn't destroy their relationship, then the baby would.

Ten minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, and The Doctor was sitting against the wall just across from the bathroom door, staring unseeing at the doorway she was now stood in.

Within seconds he had got up, standing nervously infront of her, scratching behind his ear. She all but fell into his arms, utterly exhausted and ripped apart in fear. Should she tell him? Tell him she was pregnant?

But as she stared into his eyes, she realised – she was a complete and total wuss. She couldn't tell him. Not now. One; this was an extremely comfortable hug, and two; the baby wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. She had nine months to tell him, so why destroy it now?

"You're very huggable today," The Doctor commented with his cheesy grin, before he suddenly frowned, looking thoughtful. "Waaait…what do you want?"

"Huh?"

"Hugging me can only mean you're going to ask me to do something dangerous and/or difficult." He looked down at her with a sigh of defeat. "Okay. Out with it. I'm ready."

"No…" Rose shook her head, smiling as she put her head back on his chest and swayed. "Hey…" She suddenly straightened, looking into his eyes, though she didn't stop hugging him. "Do you wanna…kinda, go out for a bit?"

The Doctor raised an inquisitive eyebrow, opening his mouth to retort, but Rose shushed him, placing a finger on his lips.

"Just you and me. Then mum can't accuse us of leaving quickly. We'll stay here for the night, then leave tomorrow morning." She looked hopeful, and The Doctor found his defences crashing down around him at that gorgeous smile…

He sighed outwardly, lifting Rose's finger off of his lips and putting it gently by her side.

"Okay."

Oh boy, how he was going to regret that one word later.


	6. Chiiips!

**A/N: **That's it.I'm 14, I have a REALLY flash pen drive that can download just about ANY program you care to mention, I'm ill, I couldn't go to the studios today...but here's a good thing - I got my Muse Album! It's SO cool XD

I told you this would turn into drama. Slight hint of comedy at the start though, for those of you who love randomness...and chips.

Oh! I just might have a summary for this too...

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Chapter 6 - Chiiips…!

Rose felt like everyone was watching her with cold eyes as she walked casually down the darkened London street, hand in hand with The Doctor. All the while she could only think of the chilling voice on the other end of the line…

She was starting to regret suggesting this outing, shivering as a wisp of cold air ran right through her. Not that she was saying that she hadn't enjoyed tonight – it had been bloody amazing with The Doctor.

The Doctor seemed happy though, which was good enough for her. Shopping had never been his niche; Rose had learnt that with experience. But, if The Doctor was happy - she was happy. She put on a sweet smile reserved especially for him, and gritted her teeth to bear the cold.

The Doctor though, however happy he might have looked, was actually extremely worried. Rose had been acting strange ever since their…midnight confrontation in the TARDIS, and he feared that maybe this had destroyed their relationship,

He was starting to regret accepting an idea like this, shivering as a wisp of cold air ran right through him. Not that he was saying that he hadn't enjoyed tonight – it had been bloody amazing with Rose.

Rose seemed happy though, which was good enough for him. She always seemed to be smiling at him for reasons unknown, though maybe he just had a funny splodge on his face at the time. But, if Rose was happy – he was happy. He put on his bravest grin, and having used it for so long after the war it was now perfected, plus it looked even more genuine in his new body.

Suddenly the smells of fresh oven chips came wafting from a chip shop they'd just strolled by, and he stopped dead in his tracks, yanking Rose to a halt.

"What?" she asked as he began to sniff the air with interest.

"Chiiips…" he said in a zombie-like voice, dropping Rose's hand and walking with his hands outstretched towards the glass window of the chip shop. "Chiiips…"

Rose giggled, stepping forward and throwing her arms around his waist, dragging him backwards from the oh so inviting aroma from the chip shop.

"C'mon! We're going home!" she insisted, pulling him reluctantly away.

"Nooo…" he said in a slow motion voice as she dragged him further and further away.

"How old are you?" she asked mockingly as he scuffed his shoes on the concrete, sulking.

"Nine hundred and one," he replied mildly, going to stuff his hands in his pockets, but finding his trenchcoat was not actually on him, and his hands passed straight through empty space. "Mummy, I want some chips."

"Well that's too bad, 'cause you ain't gettin' any. C'mon, we've gotta run or we'll miss the last bus!" She suddenly tore away, leaving The Doctor in the dust.

"But I'll run faster if I have chips!" he yelled after her in protest, but all he heard in reply was,

"Cram…chips…up your…C'MON!"

He rolled his eyes, tearing his gaze away from the chip shop and running after her into the blackness.

Then he heard a scream.

Stopping dead in his tracks, his eyes widened with fear and dread. "Rose?" he called, but there was no reply. "Rose?(!)" he yelled slightly louder. But there was nothing. "ANSWER ME ROSE!"

Then he was running. Running like he had never run before, the path infront of him never seeming so dark and endless. He kept calling out for her, but each time he was met by only dead silence. His hearts were beating in a drum roll, his mind full of images. London was dangerous at night – especially for a beautiful young girl like Rose. He should never have left her. He'd just let her walk into her death.

"Doctor!" came a scream from somewhere to his right, and The Doctor bolted over to the sound like his feet were on fire.

"Rose!"

He could see a figure now, Rose, standing a little while infront of him, battling with an unknown force. He turned up his speed to the maximum, focusing on a giant black figure that looked more like a shadow than a person, and hurled himself towards it.

The two went crashing to the floor, Rose screaming at the sight now infront of her eyes. The movement was too quick to determine what had happened, but next thing Rose knew, The Doctor was pinned against the wall by a giant black shadow clung tightly around his neck, his feet dangerously high off the ground.

Rose was screaming, the blackness was howling, and The Doctor was aware of the choking sounds coming from his throat as he struggled to breathe through his crushed windpipe. He tried to move some part of his body, but it seemed all he could do was suffocate as his limbs refused to co-operate. His head started spinning, feeling more and more light-headed with every progressive second.

Then he thought of Rose.

If he didn't get free this thing would get her for sure. He couldn't let that happen. He just couldn't. As his respiratory bypass system kicked in for the precious few seconds of life, he felt his energy pour back into him like crashing water from a waterfall, and with his few seconds of energy he threw out a kick.

He felt the grip slide off of his throat, and normal service resumed as The Doctor landed on his feet onto the safe, hard ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his fiend launch another attack towards him, and quickly sidestepped, the shadow passing right by him.

He delved into his jacket pocket, wishing and hoping he'd remembered to get the Sonic Screwdriver before he'd come out. His hand searched frantically in every single pocket in his jeans and jacket, but the next thing he knew the blackness was back on him. He flung out his arms wildly, attempting to hit back the darkness as he fell onto the concrete wall behind him.

"Doctor!" came Rose's yell from a few metres away, and he twisted his head to see her holding his sanctuary. The Sonic Screwdriver came flying towards him, and he dived forward holding out his hand to catch it. But the shadow wrapped its form around his arms, tugging it out of the Sonic Screwdriver's path and it fell to the ground with a chink.

The Doctor cried out in both pain and frustration as the tendrils gave a sharp tug on his wrists, and in his wave of rage he launched out a second kick and once again the grip faltered and he dived onto the ground, scooping up the Sonic Screwdriver and wheeling around to face the black shadow, his handsome face determined.

He hit the button.

The darkness exploded all around him in sonic shock, bursting spontaneously into hundreds of tiny fragmented drips the thickness of blood, before they suddenly began to melt into the concrete until there was nothing there at all.

They paused for a few seconds, seeping in what had just happened. The Doctor was the first to move, launching himself onto his feet and running over to Rose, checking her over almost like he was a real doctor.

"You okay? It didn't hurt you did it?" he asked fearfully, opening one of her eyes with two fingers and looking intently at it.

"No, I'm fine…" she muttered as The Doctor checked her other eye. "It just crept up on me, that's all." She pulled away from him, nervous that he'd start scanning her with the Sonic Screwdriver and find more than he bargained for in her womb. "C'mon, we'd better run, or we'll never catch the last bus home."

This time he was quick to follow her as she dashed off, fearing for her safety. It had been a Darkeese, trained ninja-like warriors hired from all over the galaxy to kill or steal for appropriate amounts of money. But what was one after Rose for? She was a human from Earth, the most oblivious and non-evolutionised race in the entirety of the universe.

Maybe someone was after him?

He had no time to think about it as Rose barely caught the bus in time, and The Doctor had to sprint and jump onto a moving bus, much to Rose's amusement. They located an unoccupied seat, and The Doctor all but felt onto it, exhausted from the night's events. He felt Rose snuggle into his arm, and he smiled cautiously to himself.

If _he_ couldn't beat Rose Tyler running, sure as hell no Darkeese could.


	7. How Utterly Depressing Part 1

**A/N:** Woo. We're into a two parter tradgedy/action/adventure phase. Please note the title, 'How Utterly Depressing Part 1', becuase, frankly, it is goddamn depressing. It was written under cover (Literally, 'under cover') at 1:00am listening to Snow Patrol - Run, another depressing song. I can't stand too much Snow Patrol. It makes you want to commit suicide. How DOES that singer live?

But anyway. Enjoy XD Well, I _say _enjoy, but...

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Chapter 7 – How Utterly Depressing Part 1

_I…am…pregnant. _That's all she needed to say, three little words.

_I am pregnant. _She could even say it as two words - even shorter.

_I'm pregnant._

Or, she could elaborate on it.

_I'm pregnant. Yes, pregnant. Pregnant with your child. Let's dance around the Happy Tree singing joyfully at the top of our voices. Merry, merry, merry. Let us all be merry and sing 'Yankee-Doodle-Dandy' while I play dirty music on my banjo._

Or she could throw it in a whole new light.

_I'm pregnant. Yes, pregnant. Bloody pregnant. Pregnant with your goddamn child you total, utter and complete bastard. I hope you're going to apologise and have another round of sex with me as compensation, 'cause it was bleedin' fantastic._

But for some reason everytime she looked at him, all she could see were those cute, innocent eyes watching her intently - and she just collapsed under her own fear. But now they were on the bus home, and Rose still hadn't told him. The night out had meant to be the cover for the subtle drop that she was pregnant. To hell with that.

She glanced up at him, but he was looking out the window away from her at the darkened night streets as the bus travelled down the main road towards home. Why was she so scared? Surely he would understand…

She wanted to reach out and touch him to attract his attention. But even that was impossible. She was just too scared of what he would say about it. Would he leave her? Would he avoid her? Would he make her have an abortion? She just didn't know him well enough. She was having a baby with a man who wasn't human that she knew nothing about. Ironic. The one thing she was one hundred percent sure that could never happen in her life.

She began to count down mentally in her head. When she reached zero, she would touch him. Another count of three, and she would tell him. There. That wasn't too hard, was it?

Okay. Countdown; ten Mississippi, nine Mississippi, eight Mississippi, seven gotyourbaby, six gotyourbaby, five pleasedontkillme, four pleasedontkillme, three pleasedontleaveme, two pleasedontleaveme, one Timelord baby…zero.

She touched his arm, her mouth hanging open, totally ready to say the words. He turned around to face her and as he stared enchantingly into her eyes, the words went flying on silver wings out of the open window.

"What?" he asked, and all Rose was able to do was close her mouth and lean back onto his shoulder as a pillow in a defeated manner. She felt an arm rest around her shoulders and she instantly heard and felt her heartbeat increase rapidly. It was a miracle no one stood up and yelled at her to turn her heartbeat down.

"Doctor," she heard herself say, and even though her eyes were closed she could see him looking at her.

"Yeah?"

"I've got something to tell you."

"Hmm?"

Rose gulped. "Before I say it, you've got to promise you won't hit me."

He laughed that gorgeous uplifting laugh. "Okay, I promise I won't hit you."

"Or runaway," she added as an afterthought.

"Promise I won't runaway."

"Or ignore me."

"Promise, promise, promise!" he assured her, giving her a nudge. "Just tell me!"

Her eyes wandered around the bus, trying to seek some reassurance. She shifted a little, looking up at The Doctor. Her mouth opened, the words on the tip of her tongue.

_I…am…pregnant. _

_Me…ug, ug, pregnant with baby, ug, ug._

_Do you believe in the possibility of a probability of a possible probable probability that I'm pregnant?_

_Say if…err…I was…umm…quote pregnant unquote from err…last night, say, if that were an instance that was present right now, would it be so alien that the baby would be born out of my head?_

She was aware she was sitting there staring at him with her mouth wide open, something that in a normal situation would have seemed slightly perplexing. But then again – this wasn't a normal situation. Besides, what would her mother say when she found out? She couldn't possibly keep something like this a secret.

Well, Jackie probably wouldn't actually say anything. She'd just hit The Doctor hard - very hard. Probably cause some permanent brain damage on him, to be totally honest. But it had to be done. And before she could tell her mother, she had to tell the man that _got _her pregnant, that she was actually pregnant.

Then something interrupted her trail of thought.

Just past The Doctor out the side window of the bus was a large black lorry speeding towards them straight across the crossroads at a considerable speed, and it didn't look like it was going to stop. Everything seemed in slow motion as she saw the driver clearly in a bright beam of white light, though she knew instantly like she had known with the shadow-like creature, this driver was trying to kill her, The Doctor and their unborn child

Her eyes met the driver's, and she could only feel numb as he grinned widely at her, his rotting teeth and crazy dancing red eyes burning with a sense of victory. He…it, she hastily clarified, was _not _human. If he was, he had long since become decayed, inhuman and just plain evil – the stuff of nightmares.

Her eyes opened Bambi wide, and her already open mouth let out a high-pitched, terrified scream. The Doctor swung around immediately to see what she was looking at, and within a second his quick mind took action. It was only a matter of seconds until the lorry hit them, but he had already planned his course of action.

"Everybody get down!" he yelled at the loudest he could to the rest of the passengers on the bus, then threw himself onto the terrified Rose, completely ready to get his brain exploded if it saved Rose's life.

Something smashed into his back with triple the force of a Jackie Tyler slap, sending him careering over Rose and crashing with several alarming cracks into the far side of the bus. He had no time to think about the sudden pain as the window he'd nearly smashed through imploded, sending glass all over him. He could feel the bleeding open cuts on his face; the ache of cracked and bruised ribs in his chest and the blood drip down from his face, splattering into a puddle he'd managed to create in the space of less than two seconds.

Within an instant the bus had rudely thrown him about again, smashing into another wall. How many goddamn walls _were _there for Rassilon's sake? As he hit the ground with another few cracks, he managed to fight off the uncomfortably inevitable curtain of unconsciousness as he spotted Rose lying immobile and blooded in the middle of the aisle.

He launched forward in a sudden burst of energy, throwing himself over her protectively as the bus continued to roll. He could only scream Rose's name as the bus finally hit a lurking concrete wall, stopping the rolling rather abruptly with another smash.

Despite how he knew he had to get everyone out of the bus, he could only lay on the floor of the aisle with his eyes lightly closed, too weak to even lift a finger. With the taste of blood in his mouth from what he knew could only be internal damage, he tried in vain to ignore the pain now rippling through every limb of his body - but as he began to edge even closer to the darkness, it was only increasing.

Why was everything hurting?

He could only feel the pain. He was breathing pain. He was respiring pain. Maybe this was death. He'd never really concentrated in the time between bodies on what he was feeling. He was usually concentrating so much on the actual regeneration process; he'd never taken the time to feel what the experience was like.

He could hear only muffled voices. Voices of angels? Voice from the afterlife, their arms outstretched into the hug of death he had denied nine times before. He was laying in a pool of blackness, his body coursing with pain, his mind flashing with images of what his next body would be like. Probably fat. Probably bald. Probably need ten-inch thick spectacles. Probably have a _really _small…

Then it came - the voice of an angel. He felt her presence, leaning over his wrecked body as her warm hands touched his cut face in a caressing motion, the agonising pain seemingly diminishing with her touch.

"Doctor," her voice came in a whisper. But it was all he needed to hear.

---------

**A/N: **Hmm. I've been reading fics lately with the snippets of the next chapter in the bottom A/N, and thought they looked kind of neat. And I can do what the hell I like - if I think something looks cool, I DO it, no questions asked. Except those giant crashes in 'The World's Most Amazing Videos', those I do to someone else. Like The Doctor. Heh. Please don't hit me.

So, there's a piece of the next chapter, aptly named 'How Utterly Depressing Part 2' XD:

_"No!" she yelled hysterically, shaking his limp body by the shoulders with both hands. "Somebody help him!" she screamed out loud into the onlooking crowd pleadingly, the tears rushing thick and fast down her cheeks. "Please help him!"_

BTW, how's this for a summary?:  
Too much alcohol is never a good thing…or maybe it's just an excuse? But either way – Rose is now pregnant with The Doctor's baby, and carrying a Timelord baby could be fatal, especially since The Doctor doesn't even know. TenRose fluff XD Fun.

Umm, subject to change... :-/ Thank you to **.Her.Freezing.Hell.**, **Purple-Rosie**, **Joe**, **Oztroja **and **Roy** for all your summary suggestion :D (Dances) WOOoooOOWooOwowOWwoWowowWoWowowoowowWowoowwWOWowowWOw!


	8. How Utterly Depressing Part 2

**A/N: **Okay, so I lied. Sue me. It's now a three-parter, and that little snippet...was for the next chapter. Cause I'm never satisfied, and I changed everything. So, there we go (Surrenders) kill me!

Okay, how's THIS for a summary?:  
Too much alcohol is never a good thing…or maybe it's just an excuse? These are the humorous events after a drunken night between The Doctor and Rose, and then it gets worse - soon an unknown force is chasing Rose, and The Doctor really doesn't know why. TenRose.

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Chapter 8 – How Utterly Depressing Part 2

He breathed in oxygenated air.

He was alive.

He could hear womans' screaming, shouts and yells from men, and children crying in the background, aswell as the crackling of a nearby fire. But despite all that, he could still hear his angel speaking to him quietly, right into his fragile ear.

"Doctor," his angels voice came again in a terrified whisper. He managed to wrench open his horribly tired eyes and slowly lift up his throbbing head, the blur of Rose wavering precariously in his vision as he suddenly got a sense of relief. She was fine, Thank god. It didn't matter if he died now – Rose was safe, and looked in pretty good shape, considering she'd just been in a bus crash.

"Rose," he muttered, gargling through the blood in his mouth, "we've gotta get everyone out before the fire hits the fuel tanks…" he forced himself to sit up, trying his hardest to ignore the pain vibes rushing through his entire body.

"Oh god," Rose breathed, and he felt a strong hand grab his elbow and pull him onto unsteady feet. He staggered backwards as a wave of fatigue, pain and nausea hit him full on, but when he opened his eyes again his vision could now distinguish the difference between Rose's hair and face.

"Rose," he muttered, leaning on the bus seat, his leg hurting too much to put weight on. "Start getting everyone out now."

"Okay!" she answered, too terrified to do anything else. She disappeared from his vision, and he looked around as a glance at the inflicted damage on the bus. He was vaguely aware of a few people screaming at him in fright and shock, probably either from the way he looked right now, or the way he could actually stay conscious. He put his stronger, yet unsteady foot forward, and to his surprise, he found he could keep his balance while walking. He scrunched up his eyes tight again, and then opened them. His vision was throbbing like a pulsating headache, swerving in and out in a blur, inevitably making him even more dizzy and nauseous. But yes - it was getting better.

"Doctor!" Rose said from somewhere beside him, and he slowly turned to face the sound of her voice. "The entrance is blocked!"

"Hold on!" He had just managed to grab hold of a seat when he felt the bus floor move erratically below him, nearly throwing him to the ground again. He managed to regain his pose and turned around to check on Rose, who was holding a somewhat dishevelled looking teenage boy with one hand, clutching onto a ripped seat for a lifeline with the other. The front axles had just split – it was now a climb up a slope to their only escape.

Sloped. He couldn't manage a slope now.

By some miracle he managed to make his way slowly up to the back of the bus, and with a fortifying intake of sharp air, he drove a fist straight though the emergency glass. Pain shot straight up through his knuckles and hand, but the pain just joined the list of the other pains he was trying in vain to ignore.

It would have been nice to avoid all this unnecessary pain, but there wasn't an emergency hammer at the back. Must've been stolen. Why the hell do you need to nick an emergency hammer from a bus? Seriously? It wasn't strong enough to murder someone _or _knock in a nail. Maybe people actually made collections of stolen bus hammers. What's strange about that? People collect photos of lampposts.

The glass smashed down onto the ground outside, and within seconds a few blurry passer-bys had gathered outside the smashed glass, their voices screaming desperately for him to jump down to safety. To hell with that.

He swung around, beckoning the shape of Rose with his now stinging and blooded hand. He saw several people charge crazily towards the back window, throwing themselves out of the burning bus and onto the people outside, waiting to catch them.

The more people that fled out, the more The Doctor was starting to feel his own pains. By the time it was only him and Rose left, he was on the brink of unconsciousness.

"Get out!" he yelled at Rose, and saw her undecided expression. "I'll be right behind you, I promise!"

"You'd better be!" she screamed as The Doctor gently lowered her out of the smashed window to the people waiting below. He was just about to follow, when he heard something that made him swing back around in fear and dread.

He immediately ran as fast as he could with his hurt leg full speed down the aisle, leaving Rose's screams of frustration fading into the distance. He searched every destroyed and burnt seat until he finally found what he was looking for.

A small girl, probably barely more than ten years old was tucked up under a seat with her eyes staring wide at him, fire raging no more than a few feet away. She was crying her heart out, absolutely terrified. Obviously whoever had been with her had been killed or one of the majority that had been knocked out, and Rose had probably only been looking at the seats for people – not under them.

The Doctor took her arms and tried to pull her out from under the seat, but she only cried out in pain, refusing to budge. He peered closely at the problem – crushed legs underneath a collapsed seat. There was no way of dislodging her.

Crash.

He cried out in fear and pain, instantly realising the back axles had broke. There was another smash as he desperately tried to stay conscious, the fire following a laid trail of petrol straight towards him and the girl.

The Doctor knew at that point – they were both going to die. At least there was now no petrol in the petrol tanks to explode; or that would have been a death and a half. He cradled the girl in his arms, biting his lip to contain the despair rushing through him. He could feel the little girl crying into him, petrified with fear.

"What's your name?"

She looked up at him through a smeared black face, the tears running down her cheeks leaving snail trails in the blackness.

"K-K-Katie," she stuttered, and he nodded, smiling, as if they weren't about to be burnt alive on a bus in the middle of London. "What's your name?" she asked, tugging on his jacket zip with tiny, fragile fingers.

"I'm The Doctor." He suddenly felt very protective of this child – his instinctual father neurons getting the better of him, and he held her tighter to his chest.

"That's a weird name."

"Between you and me, I think it was a mistake at the christening. I reckon someone needed help _right _when the priest was naming me, and yelled out 'DOCTOR!' then I got stuck with it."

Katie giggled. "Really?"

"Oh yeah. You've got a beautiful name, Katie." He stroked her matted brown hair, holding her close. "For a beautiful girl. I bet you're fighting off the boys with a stick." He put his body between the fire and her as a shield, so at least when they found her she would still have a face. "I bet you've even got a boyfriend now."

She raised a small smile, shaking her head. "Boys are idiots."

He laughed openly, running a hand through his messy hair. "Girls are the best, right?"

"You have a girlfriend," she suddenly said, and The Doctor looks down at her with a furrowed brow. "She's called Rose."

The Doctor couldn't speak for a moment as memories came flooding back. Rose. She thought he'd left her for no reason. Ran into that bus to burn.

"You're a very observant girl," he finally said, feeling the heat start to burn the back of his neck.

"Do you miss her?"

"…Yes, I do. I miss her like I've never missed anyone before."

"Do you love her?"

He paused, the answer caught midway in his throat. She was only a girl…

"I…" he started, but was interrupted by a huge ripping sound from somewhere above him. The ceiling - the ceiling had given way. He threw himself over the girl on instinct, looking up just in time to see the heavy metal flying with accurate precision towards his head.


	9. How Utterly Depressing Part 3

**A/N: **I'm sorry. So sorry. Really, truly, I am. Urrmm...now four parts. I can't stop rambling about this...STILL, you gotta take a chance when you get it s'pose.

And like I said before in other fic, TORCHWOOD! I can't wait till next episode. It's The Doctor's hand. IT IS! I'm still so pleased with myself for working that out! XD

Anyway, that last one really got you going didn't it? Sorry. And...sorry again. Just read, and you'll find out what I'm sorry about.

----------

Chapter 9 – How Utterly Depressing Part 3

Rose was sat on the edge of the pavement, staring blankly ahead into the prominent orange of the burning bus, absorbed in shock. The pains she was experiencing were just numb feelings from the cold. He was dead. He had to be. He'd just run back into his own death. Why?

She somehow hoped this was a nightmare – she had fallen asleep during the sitcom. Yeah. That was it. Maybe if she wished hard enough she would wake back up, back in The Doctor's warm arms, lying on that sofa. But it was useless. She knew where she was, what was happening and how horrifically The Doctor had died. All the while Jackie was probably having a cup of tea whilst watching repeats of Eastenders.

And the sad thing was – that was probably true.

She felt a tear fall down her cheek, onto her blood soaked arm. Blood that was both hers and The Doctor's, perhaps the only remaining part of him left that wasn't burnt to a crisp. There were no ambulances, fire brigades, police cars, lifeguard boats, pet rescue vans or ice cream vans – nothing about. Anything with flashing lights would certainly be welcome right now.

"I'm so sorry…" someone suddenly said from beside her, interrupting her trail of thought. "He saved everyone's lives. He shouldn't have to die."

Rose didn't say anything in reply. She just closed her eyes, letting her tears run their course.

"There's always a chance…" the person continued before Rose interrupted him swiftly.

"He's dead. He 'as to be," Rose said abruptly, turning to face the person addressing her, and suddenly looked taken aback. It was the teenage boy she'd first saved. Now she wasn't blinded by panic, she could see he looked quite mature for his age, thin face with chiselled features, short blond hair, and intelligent brown eyes – he looked slightly similar to The Doctor, just younger and more built.

"What's your name?" she asked suddenly, intrigued by this newfound discovery.

"Rory," he replied, giving a half-smile. "What's yours?"

"Rose."

"Don't give up on him, Rose." The boy took her hand with his own warm one. "I'm sure he's alive. You can't give up. I can tell you're not the type to give up."

He was right. She couldn't give up. Not after all The Doctor had done for her. Plus – he didn't even know about the baby. She couldn't sit here and just accept his death, when he was probably still alive under the wreckage. He _had _to know about the baby.

She launched herself onto her feet, letting go of the boy's hand to address the crowd gathered around the destroyed bus that were screaming hysterically to the man inside.

Then it collapsed.

Rose watched, horror-struck, as the ceiling came down, and with it her confidence. As she slowly began to shrink back to sitting position, the warm hand found hers again and squeezed reassuringly, that same calming voice whispering in her ear.

"You can do it Rose." It was all she needed.

"Oi!" she yelled loudly, but few people turned to face her. "I'm 'ere!" she screamed, even louder, and more people started to turn towards the sound of her voice. "Yeah! I'm talkin'! Over 'ere!" She let the boy's hand slide from her grasp as she waved her arms about madly to attract the attention of the watching crowd. More clusters of people turned, and soon Rose was faced with all the survivors and bystanders of the crash still able to walk.

"Listen up, 'cause we ain't got much time. There's a man still trapped in there and I for one am not gonna let 'im die for nothin'! He saved everyone else's lives and mine tonight and I'm gonna bust 'im outta that wreck! But I can't save 'im alone; I need your 'elp. Now, who's with me?"

Her face slowly turned into a grin as people started nodding in approval, walking towards her to join her side. She turned to thank the boy – without him she'd have never been able to do this. But he was nowhere to be seen.

She shrugged, turning back around to face the waiting crowd of willing volunteers.

"Alright, here's what we'll do…"

----------

Katie was terrified.

She knew the ceiling had collapsed onto them, and now The Doctor wasn't moving or talking. Was he dead? He was covering her, shielding her from the fire, but with her arms aching like they were, she couldn't shift The Doctor from the protective position he covered her in to check on the progress of the fire.

She wasn't old enough to understand the impact of death. No relation of hers had ever died, and to her death, was just something always lingering and was bound to come at some time or another. You can't understand the impact of a death until your heart has experienced it. But despite only knowing The Doctor for a minute or two, she felt like her mother had just died.

Helplessly, she tugged on The Doctor's jacket, trying to get his attention.

"Doctor, are you there? Doctor? Please say yes. Please don't be dead." But he didn't reply. She started to cry again, too scared to do anything else.

She didn't know how long she layed there, crying. She thought of her mummy, and her daddy. Her brother. What had happened to him? Was he dead too? The last thing she remembered…he was sitting with her on the bus, telling her how when they got home he'd make her some hot chocolate and play cuddlytoys with her. Then someone had yelled, and next thing she knew, she was on her own.

"Doctor!" said a recognisable woman's voice over the flames, and Katie's ears pricked up. "Are you in there?"

"Help!" Katie cried out, relief cascading over her in a crashing wave. "Help us!"

She heard something rip, but couldn't move her head to see the source. She suddenly felt a rush of cold air blow onto her face, and knew straight away they'd been saved.

"Doctor?" Rose asked again, this time a lot closer. "Oh god!"

"He's not movin'…" Katie sobbed uncontrollably.

"Give 'im a shake," Rose said to Katie who promptly obeyed, holding The Doctor's arm and pushing him. Nothing happened.

Rose feared the worst. She could only see one half of his face through the rubble, and that was snail trailed in blood. She couldn't give up on him. She had to believe.

She reached forward as far as she could; she just about touched his neck – checking for a pulse. She concentrated with all her might, until she finally felt that rhythmic pulsating sensation against her fingertips, and breathed out a sigh of relief. Yes, it was slow by the standards of a guy with two hearts; but it was there.

"C'mon, we gotta get you out…" Rose muttered, grabbing hold of Katie firmly by the arms and giving a firm tug. The child cried out in pain in her arms, and Rose instantly stopped, scared again. "What is it?"

"My legs…" the girl wept, and Rose strained her head around the hole of the outside cool metal, catching a glimpse of the seat on her crushed legs. Her thoughts began tumbling around her, flicking through possibilities, but finding nothing that didn't involve a metal dissipating device unknown to human kind at this precise moment in history.

"Sonic Screwdriver!" she suddenly realised. It could reattach barbed wire _and _resonate concrete – why not corrode metal? She turned her attentions to the girl again, intent on getting her to find the Sonic Screwdriver from The Doctor's pocket, but was met with a far more promising prospect.

The Doctor groaned, trying to put a wounded hand to the place on his head where the metal had struck him unconscious, but he couldn't move either of his hands. One was being crushed and the other was too badly hurt to move. He was aware of a giant weight pinning him down, and the searing heat was alarmingly close to the bottom of his right foot. But he didn't cry out. What would be the point?

Then he heard the point.

"Doctor!"

He gave a small smile to himself, opening his eyes to meet the ones of Rose, staring back at him through a ripped hole in the side of the bus.

"Sorry Rose…" he croaked, struggling to breathe under the weight of the rubble. "I couldn't leave her…"

"I know," she answered, smiling. She'd found him. "But now we gotta get you out. Both of you."

To Rose's surprise, he shook his head for about two seconds, but found the pain that came with it too much to tolerate.

"It's too late…the fire Rose…" he gasped, and she saw his fists clench as he contained a fresh burst of pain. "It's…it's…burning…"

Rose stared in alarm as he started to whimper, and she instantly realised was he was saying. The fire had started burning through his leg; chewing it through like a hungry beast, leaving nothing for mercy.

"No!" Rose screamed, determined not to let the tears overcome her, fall and cloud her already wonky vision. "I won't let it! Move your leg! Get it out!"

"I…can't," he panted, and Rose could she he was trying to fight the pain, for both Katie's and her sake. "I can't move…"

Rose was seeing colours smash and collide infront of her eyes, the sorrow becoming all too much as the fire continued to burn his leg. With every second it was progressing up his leg and towards his body…

She'd see him and the girl die. Screaming. Screaming in pain and crying in fear as the flames engulfed the both of them. There was nothing she could do. She felt helpless. She'd lost him. She'd come so close – only to have it snatched away from her again like a lion hunting it's prey.

"Go Rose!" The Doctor suddenly yelled, convulsing in pain. Rose was trembling from both shock and realisation, the tears caught in her throat, feeling nothing but the distress of The Doctor – dying to the force not even he could control, all because of her. "I don't want you to see me…" He unexpectedly cried out, and even though she couldn't see it, she knew the fire was spreading rapidly.

And she was helpless.

She turned away, finally letting more tears flow from her eyes and down her cheeks, unable to watch as he was about swallowed up in the flames, covering her ears as he called out in the ultimate pain.

"I love you Doctor!" she cried out into the night, but he couldn't hear her.

And now he probably never would.

----------

**A/N: **PLEASE! Don't kill me, or I won't be able to post the next chapter. Nice readers. Nice, GOOD readers. You wouldn't hit an innocent fic writer would you?

Heh...(Backs off slowly and runs away)


	10. How Utterly Depressing Part 4

**A/N: **...(Jaw drops) EIGHTEEN REVIEWS?(!) Omg, you guys really know how to make someone happy don't you? XD So a big thank you to ALL reviewers, that's; doctor katy timano floorpie WhisperLuna Purple-Rosie Lady Ardana RagamuffinSundrop Ignoramus 0 Keelie 0 P.K. - 91 horsefly Scout Girl Reichenbach lupinsstar Her.Freezing.Hell Mikkifavo KooTheDancer one of the riddles.

Phew. That took a long time!

Anyway, apologies to people who haven't seen it yet - but Torchwood! Sorry to keep bringing it up, but it's bloody amazing! I can bet you by tuesday there will be a fic up about Jack seeing The Doctor and/or Rose in a future vision...

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Chapter 10 – How Utterly Depressing Part 4

He was burning.

He could feel the searing heat travel up his leg, and it seemed he could do nothing but yell in pain as it strayed towards his knee joint.

There was a warm glow in his chest – the sure sign of oncoming regeneration. But he couldn't regenerate. Not now. Anytime but now. If he regenerated infront of all these people, the humans would take him away, runs tests, and he'd never see Rose again. She was already in danger from the Darkeese. Someone was after her, and they wouldn't temporarily stop just so he could recover from his regeneration, and then start again.

Rose was in danger. Although the question on his mind wasn't 'who?' as maybe it should have been, but it was 'why?' instead.

The tepid glow in his chest started to get even warmer as the fire went past his knee, climb up even higher. This was it then. Goodbye body number ten, nice knowing you. Can only hope body number eleven is as handsome looking as you were, because Rose seemed to like it.

The metal crushing him offered a little bit more protection, but frankly, if the fire didn't kill him it would be the lack of oxygen. The air was now thick with smoke fumes, making it heavy to breathe in. Katie was coughing beside him, choking on the smoke. Maybe he should let her die by the smoke. It would be much kinder.

She wouldn't have to feel this pain.

He wished he could pass out and wake up in his TARDIS bed, the past day or two being just a horrible nightmare that could easily be forgotten.

Actually, no. He wished he could wake up from the Jackie Tyler slap. If he woke up too early, that would mean he'd never had sex with Rose, and he rather like that part. Okay. Jackie's slap had knocked him out, and he was currently lying on the sofa in the flat, Rose bustling about him in worry while Jackie just stared on in distaste.

He thought about this scenario hard, willing for it to happen, his eyes screwed up tight in concentration. For a moment he thought it had worked, as the pain in his leg started to die down, along with the warm glow feeling in his chest. Wow. That was the first time it had ever worked…

He opened his eyes, fully prepared to see the interior of Jackie's flat. He _was _gullible. As the blooded face of a smiling Rose Tyler bobbed into view, he realised, with almost disappointment that it was raining.

But he could go with that too.

----------

Rose's anguished face all of a sudden burst into a happy smile, a manic grin at the sheer gloriousness of it all. She jumped onto her feet, laughing openly into the night as she faced towards the sky, spinning around in a circle with her arms widespread. Thank God for the balance of nature - it was raining!

She whooped and cheered, tears of joy now running down her face. She punched the air. Screamed in triumph. Everything was going to be all right! She poked her water-drenched head back into the opening, grinning hysterically at the pain faced Doctor, who opened his eyes to look at her.

"Everythin's gonna be fine Doctor!" she yelled in delight, feeling the heat the fire created starting to die down from the rain. "I'll get ya out! I promise!"

The Doctor smiled gratefully at her, feeling the fire that had once been consuming his leg start to shrink back, as if it lived in fear of him. The cool rain hammered down onto his burnt leg, and despite how he couldn't see it, he knew the cracked burns were starting to surface on his skin.

He was kind of glad he couldn't see them.

He heard Rose tug at a piece of metal that refused to budge, helped by a few more bystanders. He held onto Katie tight, feeling the bus shake slightly from the disruption. He knew Rose's confidence was ill found, but alerting her to how close he was to regeneration would just make her panic even more.

Soon the whole of the side of the bus had been ripped off, leaving him and Katie exposed to the world. He was laying under about three feet of metal drenched in blood, and Katie…well, Katie…thank god she couldn't see her foot, because it was sticking out at a very weird angle from under the seat.

Then they all heard sirens. Smiles broke out everywhere in the street, and for the second time that night Rose was whooping and cheer – dancing in the rain.

They eventually realised it was the Fire Brigade, if but a little late to put out the fire, they could still cut the girl and The Doctor free. Rose waited by the crushed Doctor and now unconscious child, fearing the worst as The Doctor slowly became more out of focus – his consciousness fading away. It was either the amount of blood loss, or just the fact the metal piled on him was crushing his lungs and now he had a lack of oxygen in his body.

"Doctor, hold on, they're gonna cut you free any second…" she dared to lean forward towards him despite the voiced concerns more metal would collapse, brushing the hair off his face. At least she didn't have to worry about the fire anymore, hypothermia from the rain was probably a bit more of a threat right now. "Just stay with me."

These murmurs continued as the firemen finished cutting the girl free and turned their attentions to The Doctor, lifting a few layers of metal off of him. Rose was aware his eyes had started closing for a few more seconds than a normal blink now, and despite her best efforts to make conversation he'd just made throat noises in reply. He was fading, fast.

"It's okay Doctor, you can do it…just hold on…" She climbed onto the metal, and rested a hand on his head. "I believe in you."

With a final heave, the last piece of metal was off of The Doctor and all that was left was a lying figure on the floor, drenched in blood, covered in bruises, and burns up his leg that looked pretty nasty.

And the ambulances still hadn't arrived.

Three firemen laid him on the soaked ground, and his head lolled to the side uselessly, eyes closed. Rose could feel her heart attempting to crash through her ribs with every beat with the ultimate fear. She ran to his side, crashing down to the wet concrete on her knees. He had saved so many lives tonight – it just _wasn't _fair that he had to die for it. He didn't deserve to die. Not in a stupid thing like this. As she knelt by him, she was able to watch his chest rising and falling as he in took long, deep breaths.

"Doctor!" she screamed as rain trickle down her face, but he didn't move. She suddenly drew his rain-soaked body into a tight cling, rocking him back and forth in a terrified hug. A quiet moan escaped his lips, and Rose held him tighter in the moment. "Doctor?" she asked, her mouth dry.

"Rose…" the sound came out as a whisper, and despite how everything else around her was screaming, she clung onto the quiet sound of his weak voice.

"Don't leave me now Doctor. Don't leave me. We've come too far."

"Rose…" he whispered again. It seemed to be the only thing he _could_ say. But Rose didn't care; it was good enough for her.

"I never wanna lose you, you've gotta hold on." The hot tears poured down her cheeks as she glanced around the road – there were ten's of injured people laying blooded on the ground, and not one ambulance in sight. "Don't go Doctor. Please don't go. You can't go."

"I'm sorry…" he whispered, and Rose felt fury stream freely within her, screaming at her own powerlessness. If she were the one hurt, The Doctor would save her in a flash. But she was nothing. A human. A stupid ape; capable of only running, screaming, eating and sleeping.

Not even Rose could tell the difference between her tears and the rain as it continued to pour down onto the street, soaking both of them down to the bone as she continued to rock his blooded body back and forth.

"Doctor, listen to me. I'm gonna tell you a story, and you'd better listen hard, 'cause I need you to tell me whether it's true or not." She looked for any sort of reaction, and saw him nod slightly.

"It's said, thousands of years ago, that people used to have four legs, and four arms. But then a lightnin' bolt struck down from the heavens, splittin' people into two. So then they only had two legs, and two arms. Now, everyone spends their life searchin' for the other half of their torn soul," she paused, watching him intently with watery eyes. "Doctor?"

He opened his eyes, blood spilling out his mouth with every word he spoke. "If that were true Rose," he slowly raised his uninjured hand and took Rose's, placing it on his chest, where she could feel his two hearts beating as slow as a funeral march. "The other person with my torn soul would have to have two hearts."

Rose stared at him, realising that he was right. Even lying dying in her arms, he could still point out what a stupid ape she truly was. He raised a small smile at her expense; knowing what battle was being fought inside her mind as she looked into his eyes, despair overtaking her. She couldn't move her gaze from his eyes, nor take her hand off his chest. She had to tell him now. He _had _to know before he died…

Just as she opened her mouth, there was a rumble of thunder from the sky, and as if on cue he drew in a sharp intake of breath, his eyes flickering closed.

"No!" she yelled hysterically, shaking his limp body by the shoulders with both hands. "Somebody help him!" she screamed out loud into the on looking crowd pleadingly, the tears rushing thick and fast down her cheeks. "Please help him!"

But no one could.

It seemed all she could do was hold him in her arms, never letting go, never taking her eyes off his - watching him die in the darkness of the night. The firemen were surrounding her and The Doctor now, but without medical equipment they couldn't do anything but lend moral support. There was no chance she'd be able to get him out of here now. Even if she did save him they would just take him away for tests once they found out he had two hearts…

Then came the sirens.

As cheering erupted around her, Rose did not feel compelled to join in. She had a nagging, nasty feeling at the back of her mind – that it already might be too late.

----------

**A/N: **That wasn't too much of a cliffie, was it? BTW, my name's Laura, so could you please write it on a tag and put it with me to make it easier for the police to identify the body. Many thanks.


	11. Tallish, travellerish and singleish

Chapter 11 – Tall-ish, traveller-ish and single-ish

First name: "The"

Last name: "Doctor"

Sex: "Very, very good"

Age: "Around 900"

DOB: "Something B.C…?"

Blood type: "Some weird kinda stuff type thing…alien, though"

Hair colour: "First he was bald, now he's brown-haired"

Eye colour: "First he had blue eyes, now he's got brown eyes, which by the way, are rather sexy"

Distinguishing features: "He's got two hearts and a HUGE (Scribbles)nis"

Address: "In a phone box…just about anywhere, really"

Place of birth: "Balamory…?"

Phone number: "His phone box doesn't work, unless there's a weird psychic boy altered by nanogenes around"

Profession: "Full time arse-kicker and intergalactic hero"

Why was he/she admitted to hospital?: "Well, I'm currently being chased by a weird dude who wants my baby I've just made with The Doctor for some strange reason, and there was this really demented guy who smashed into the side of the bus we were on with his lorry and…the rest is self-explanatory really"

Allergies: "If you're worried about feeding him, he can survive on bananas, jelly babies and marmalade from a jar"

Marital status: "Single…at the moment"

Children: "Yace!"

Your relationship with the patient: "I'm having his baby"

Rose glanced over the completed form, scanning through, and then shook her head in a negative. She ripped the paper from the clipboard with her unbroken wrist and scrunched up the paper into a tight ball, shoving it into her coat pocket. She was aware the doctor, Dr. Jones, on the other side of the desk was giving her small glances as she promptly took another form, shoving it onto the clipboard.

First name: "John"

Last name: "Smith"

Sex: "Male"

Age: "35"

DOB: "Unknown"

Blood type: "Unknown"

Hair colour: "Brown"

Eye colour: "Brown"

Distinguishing features: "He's kinda tall-ish"

Address: "He travels a lot"

Place of birth: "Unknown"

Phone number: "Doesn't have one"

Profession: "Traveller-ish"

Why was he/she admitted to hospital?: "Bus crash"

Allergies: "None known"

Marital status: "Single-ish"

Children: "None"

Your relationship with the patient: "I travel with him"

Rose sat back to examine the paper, a lot happier with the commonness of the contents. She gently pushed it across the desk to Dr. Jones sitting on the other side, who gave a brief glance over it, before nodding in approval and filing it into a cluster of papers clutched in his hands.

Then it went back to that dreary hospital atmosphere.

The only time Rose had ever been to a hospital was year four in Primary School - the events that had led her to breaking her leg involved her boyfriend (At the time…), a cricket bat and a rather bad aim. So hospitals, in Rose's eyes, weren't bad places.

But now the fact The Doctor had been given a twenty-five percent survivability rating on arrival didn't exactly boost her confidence of the way they operated. Plus, if they did a scan on him; they would find out his alienity, take him away to a secret government unit, dissect him, lock him up – and she'd never see him ever again. She'd give birth to an alien. Then they'd take that away too.

This was all her fault. If she hadn't taken The Doctor on a stupid trip out they would never be in this position right now. The shadow would have never come to attack her, the creature would have never smashed into the bus and The Doctor wouldn't have had to play the hero and nearly get himself killed. Again.

But at least her mum had arrived. However much it was that Jackie disapproved of The Doctor, she knew how much he meant to her, and would never desert her at a time like this.

Rose hadn't even been allowed to see him, since she arrived at the hospital after The Doctor and he'd disappeared straight into the Operating Room beneath a bustle of concerned looking surgeons. So now she sat rigid, staring at the hospital doctor flicking through a clipboard of papers, fiddling with her fingers and biting her nails in an attempt to get rid of the nervousness, waiting for the results of the operation.

"He's unconscious, critical, but stable." Dr. Jones smiled reassuringly at Rose as her expression slowly turned into a grin, before the doctor continued, "he's suffered significant head trauma, internal bruising and internal bleeding, a broken right arm, fractured left patella, cracked and bruised ribs, major bruising and lacerations to his chest, stomach and arms, some minor bruising and lacerations to his face and legs, also third degree burns to his right leg," Dr. Jones reeled off like a shopping list.

Rose could only fight back the tears as all the injuries registered one after the other in her mind. Lacerations. Broken bones. Cracked bones. Fractured bones. Bruised bones. Bruised skin. Internal bruising. Internal bleeding. Burns. Head trauma…how in the universe had he survived? He seemed to have every single thing wrong with him that was in the damned medical dictionary.

"The head trauma is so great, he may not recall some of his memories for a while. He may be different. He may not instantly recall who you are, or even who he is. It's impossible to tell until he wakes up, and then we can assess the full extent of the damage."

Rose gawped. No. This couldn't be happening. Her Doctor - unable to remember who she was. She felt the warm, reassuring hand from her mother slip quietly into her own, but she didn't move her gaze from the man now sitting opposite her, telling her subliminally that The Doctor was going to die.

"He won't be able to do the simple things, like making a cup of tea or writing his name on a piece of paper for a few months. In time his cuts and bruises will heal, but for the moment he might be unrecognisable. Don't start testing his mind on the events of the night yet, because otherwise it might shatter. He may seem a little disoriented upon waking – he's just had major surgery and we can't seem to identify his blood type…"

_That's because he's an alien._

"Can I see him?" Rose asked, getting onto her feet, and Dr. Jones nodded sympathetically.

"He's in the Invasive section, room 7R in the Intensive Care Unit. I'll have a nurse escort you."

----------

What would she see?

Would he be on the verge of death?

What if he died right infront of her?

If he woke, would he know who she was?

So many questions poured through her mind, each one more daunting than the next. And she hadn't actually looked at him yet. That was the beauty of it, see. He had the ability to scare her to Timbuktu, yet he didn't even need to be in the room with her.

Then she opened her eyes.

Despite how all the cuts and bruises had been cleaned, stitched where needed and bandaged, he still looked nothing short of a train wreck. He was attached to every machine known to man, bandages wrapped around his head, his right arm in a cast. His left shin and ankle were poking out from underneath the hospital bed cover, wrapped up in bandages too. His right leg, where Rose knew the burns were hiding, was in a special cooling bandage three quarters of the way up his leg, including his foot.

So, all in all – he'd had better days.

Rose strolled forward bravely, leaving her mother standing at the door as the nurse silently filtered away. She rested a hand to his bandaged head, almost as if she was willing him to wake up. Maybe if he woke up, she'd wake up. Out of this terrifying nightmare.

The heart rate monitor was beeping in a steady pulse, and immediately Rose knew the reason the doctors hadn't pick up on his two hearts yet was because only one was beating. She closed her eyes tightly, her mind filled with despair, fear and anger. He didn't even know he was a father yet. Maybe he'd die before he knew…regenerate…and hate her and the baby. Dump her back on Earth and fly away to the universe.

"Rose?" Jackie asked from across the room, and Rose turned to her, biting her lip to stop herself from crying.

"I'm pregnant," she suddenly burst out; unable to stop herself as Jackie did a double take.

"You what?" she asked, unable to believe what she'd just heard.

"I'm pregnant," Rose repeated firmly. It took a few more moments to sink in, and then Jackie smiled heartily, clapping her hands together like it was Rose's first day at school. The look that said 'My little Rose is growing up!'.

"I knew you and Mickey would always get it together! Congratulations Rose!" She started walking forward to hug her pregnant daughter, marriage ceremonies, nursery decorations and baby bonnets whizzing through her mind. Rose just sighed. She'd have to do this the hard way.

"It's The Doctor's."

Jackie stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide open in surprise. Her jaw dropped open and closed continuously in disbelief, making her look remarkably similar to a goldfish.

"Sweet, for a moment there I thought you said it was The Doctor's…"

"It _is _The Doctor's mum."

Rose waited patiently for the balloon to burst. It was inflating…inflating…inflating…inflating…!

"_YOU HAD SEX WITH A NINE-HUNDRED YEAR OLD ALIEN?(!)"_

It burst.

"It was an accident!" Rose protested, before wincing as she realised what had just come out of her mouth.

"AN ACCIDENT?(!)" Jackie screeched, "HOW CAN HAVING SEX POSSIBLY BE AN ACCIDENT?(!)"

"I didn't mean to!"

"He FORCED you?(!)"

"No!"

"How long ago?"

"It was last night…"

"Good." Jackie nodded, folding her arms. "Then we can get an abortion."

Rose's eyes widened. "Mum!!!"

"It's the best way, dear."

"What if I don't want an abortion? What if I wanna keep this baby?"

"Then you'll 'ave an alien baby!"

"But it's _my _alien baby!"

"It's yours and _The Doctor's _alien baby, and I have _no _doubt that 'e agrees with me. What does 'e think by the way?"

Rose looked at the floor with a sigh. "He doesn't know yet."

"When were ya plannin' on tellin' 'im?"

"…Tonight."

The room feel silent for a moment as they each went into their own respective thoughts. Rose felt numb. Jackie just felt guilty.

"Sorry," Jackie muttered.

"It's okay," Rose replied, running a hand across the cool metal side rails of the hospital bed, not looking at The Doctor. She couldn't bear to.

"Rose…"

Rose's head jerked up towards the head of the bed, where The Doctor was looking at her through a face full of bruises. For a moment her heart raced – would he still be the same?

"Yeah, I'm here." She smiled, taking the deeply cut hand of his unbroken arm gently, not even daring to squeeze it incase she hurt him.

"What…" He breathed in deeply a few times, before continuing, "…happened?"

He couldn't remember? Was this part of the head trauma or did he just have a really shit short term memory?

"We were in a crash," she answered, running a finger down the deep cuts in her own face. "It's okay. We're safe, Doctor. We're in a hospital," she tried to reassure him, but to her alarm he suddenly started trying to get up out of the bed.

"No…" But the pain that streamed through his helpless body was all too much, and he gave up with a groan, falling down and wincing as pain shot right through him.

"Oi, mister," Jackie interrupted, stepping forward with a hand raised to slap him. He looked positively terrified, and Rose climbed over the siderail to sit next to him, smiling in pity. "You're not goin' anywhere till you're better – you've got a _lot _of explainin' to do. You're gonna get better so I can kill you."

The Doctor's terrified look turned to a half smile, and Rose grinned at him happily. Thank god her mother hadn't let slip the whole pregnancy thing.

"Thank you for saving me." Rose smiled, hugging him extremely carefully so that she couldn't hurt him. He grunted in reply, obviously extremely tired and hurting too much to string a sentence together.

"You need to get some rest." Rose let go of him, pulling the blankets up further around his beaten chest. "I'll stay, I swear I won't leave you."

The Doctor looked extremely grateful as he closed his eyes, and drifted quickly off into a dreamless sleep. Rose didn't speak until she heard his gentle breathing, and even then she listened to it for a few minutes before turning to consult her mother, who'd long since slipped into a chair next to the bed.

"Please don't tell him about the baby. Not yet," Rose begged her mother. "The shock would send him overboard, and he's not ready for it."

Jackie sighed, defeated. "If you don't want me to, I won't Rose." She grinned heartily at her only, and now impregnated daughter. "I promise."


	12. Fifteen Breasts And A Man's Desires

**A/N: **Don't blame me for the chapter title. Really. Honestly.

* * *

Chapter 12 – Fifteen Breasts And A Man's Desires 

The night drifted quickly by.

With a jolt, Rose awoke from a rather detailed dream to find the Doctor awake infront of her. She was still lying on his bed – she'd fallen asleep right next to him. She gave him a crooked grin, before she started messing with his hair fondly.

"Hello tiger," she growled with a grin, and he looked a little dazed.

"Hello…umm…err…woodchuck," he answered weakly, enjoying how Rose was playing with his hair.

"How you feeling?" she asked, and he groaned.

"I could run…" he paused, taking a breath. "A marathon," he assured her in a tired voice, closing his eyes again.

"I can see why you hate public transport," Rose joked, and he smiled slightly. Maybe now was the time to tell him. While they were alone, while they were hidden; while he couldn't run away.

As she pulled herself up to sitting position on the bed, she glanced over his content face again.

"Doctor?" she asked mildly, and she smiled when she realised he'd fallen asleep once more. Fair enough. If he wanted to take a nap every five seconds, it was fine by her.

Then something growled. A deep, low rumbling sound from just behind her. Her heartbeat suddenly increased as she felt a sudden fear crescendo from deep in her chest. Not now…anytime but now…not while the Doctor was like this…

She didn't even dare to turn. Her breath caught in her throat, her mind flicking possible images of gory monsters that lay in wait behind her. Three heads? Six eyes? Fifteen breasts, she finally decided. Pity the Doctor wasn't awake now. He could distract the alien while she smashed the thing over the head with a fire extinguisher. He'd probably enjoy distracting it to be honest; after all, he was a man. And a man has his urges, his desires. Even if he _was _a nine hundred year old alien from outer space.

She was suddenly aware of the vulnerable child sitting helplessly inside her, the child with only half-human genes. This child couldn't protect itself. Rose had to protect it. Rose wasn't just a human anymore – she was a mother. A mother with a pounding rage for anything and everything daring to try and take her baby away from her.

She span around, coming face to face with…

Pure nothingness.

As she heard another growl, she realised with complete embarrassment, that it was her stomach. Hunger. She'd been so wrapped up in the world of monsters and villains that she hadn't even noticed the aching sensation in her stomach. She hadn't eaten since the stew for dinner last night, and now she was starving. Pregnancy symptoms? She had heard you got unnaturally hungry.

Glancing back at the sleeping Doctor, she decided she would quickly go get something extremely fattening and filling to eat and be back before he woke. Bending over him, she planted a kiss on his cheek before climbing over the siderail and disappearing out the doorway to the lift.

* * *

As Rose arrived down in reception, the sight she saw was not one she'd expect in a hospital. There were millions of people with notebooks and cameras, all milling around the front desk, causing a hullabaloo. 

She walked over to a random person sitting relaxed on a waiting chair, giving him a quick nudge to grab his attention.

"What's going on?" she asked, gesturing at the gathered journalists.

"Bloody press," the man muttered bitterly, "after some guy who was in a bus crash last night. I wish they'd just get some snaps and bloody go."

"The D…John?" Rose asked, stunned. The man suddenly bolted up in his chair, interested.

"You know him?"

"My friend…he was in a bus crash last night."

"Problem solved!" He grinned manically, suddenly bolting onto his feet, yelling and pointing towards Rose.

"Hey! Over here! She knows him!"

The sudden onslaught of journalists was terrifying to Rose – before she knew what was happening several thousand microphones, cassette recorders and cameras were shoved into her face, more than a million questions being asked at once.

Whatever happened to patient confidentiality?

She ducked down out of the crowd, immediately sprinting towards the hospital entrance. If these people were after the Doctor, she'd take them as fast and as far as she could in the opposite direction.

* * *

The Doctor was bored. Really bored. Bored totally out of his skull. 

A few nurses had been round to bring him some food and top up some of his IV solutions, but apart from that, he been laying there doing absolutely bugger all for what seemed like days. He wished Rose was here. Having to listen to nothing but your own heartbeat for hours on end was annoying, if not slightly daunting. Do people hear their own heart stop beating? Can they hear the flat tone nanoseconds before they slipped into death? Do they _know _when they're going to die?

If both his hearts picked up anytime soon, he'd go into surgery for heart palpitations. And that would be very hard to talk out of.

'Yes, I do have two hearts. No, I'm not a genetic experiment. Yes, my family doctor does know about it. No, the government do not need to be informed…'

Where was Rose when you needed her?

He'd been flitting in and out of consciousness for a while now – his mind was bursting with energy but his body had other ideas. He wished he bought a book…

Hearing the door to the room open quietly, he was dragged back to reality and he opened his eyes slightly. A blackened figure of a hospital nurse walked up to him, and he saw her mouth break into a reassuring smile at the sight of his half opened eyes.

"Hold on a moment." He suddenly felt a dull pain in the top of his left arm, but didn't have the energy to turn his head.

"Mr Smith, I'm just going to take you down to MRI so we can do a scan and check the emergency surgery performed is holding. It's nothing to worry about," the nurse said to him, and the pressure on his arm stopped.

He worried.

No. If they did an MRI they'd get some extremely clear and detailed pictures of the organs which humans generally didn't have two of. He tried to protest, but his horribly painful body had other ideas. It only came out as a squeak, totally void of any sort of meaning. He tried again, but it was even worse than before. What was happening? He could speak earlier…

Then he realised he was starting to lose consciousness.

His eyes closed as he felt his head loll, but he tried desperately to cling onto the last tiny morsels of life. He had to stop this…now.

He was only vaguely aware of being lifted from the bed he considered his home for a while, and being layed onto a new surface. No…he couldn't let this happen…he had to stop it…his anxiousity must have given him energy, because he felt the smallest of small sounds vibrate in his voicebox – a groan of some kind.

But whatever it was, it wasn't enough. He could feel himself moving along - most likely on a gurney – moving progressively closer towards his death.

"Doctor!"

It was the most beautiful sound in the world. Rose – calling his name.

He tried to call out, but nothing came. He was totally and utterly helpless. A conscious man trapped inside an unconscious body is not a good prospect.

He was now determined. He had to get Rose to stop them. He tried to yell. He tried to scream. He concentrated every bit of his consciousness into screaming out one single word, 'scan'.

Had something come out of his mouth? It was hard to tell. He hoped to Rassilon it had, because otherwise, to put it in it's most basic form – he was screwed. Big time.

All energies totally spent, the last remaining oozes of consciousness were ripped carnivorously from him, making him slip deep, deep down, into the blackness.

Rose watched in the ultimate horror as the Doctor was wheeled away from her, bundled onto a gurney unconscious.

'Scan'.

Had he just said that? Oh God. Oh God.

"Stop!" Rose screamed, pelting down the corridor after them, her arms waving about in the air. "Stop!"

The crowd of doctor stopped pushing the gurney, turning to face her as she screamed.

"You can't do that!" she panted, skidding to a halt at the head of the gurney. "You…you just can't!"

"Why not ma'am?" the nurse holding the Doctor's head asked her politely, examining the Doctor's eyes to make sure he was well and truly passed out.

"Because…because…" Rose stumbled over her words; actually wondering slightly about what she could invent as an excuse. "He's…he's…ALLERGIC TO SCANS!"

The gurney started wheeling away as the doctors and nurses shook their heads, slightly bemused.

"Scan ME! I'm so much more _interesting!"_ she bounded down the corridor after them, trying to get their attention for a second time. "I've got a baby in here! Scan it!" They didn't answer. "Speaking of babies, how about labour? Oh my god! I think I've just gone into labour!"

But obviously even a woman in labour wasn't going to throw them off the mission, and as Rose started to beg heartily they only got further and further away. Soon they were just a pinprick in the distance, and Rose sank to her knees, tears pouring down her cheeks.

She'd lost him.

Oh God.

He was gone.

Oh God.

Forever.

Oh God.


	13. Sitting On A Bomb, Ouch

**A/N: **Woo! I'm done! Wow, that's like three chapters of things completed in three hours. (Feels proud) The things I do to avoid D and T projects, ay :P I mean, c'mon, 'The History Of Locks'. I REALLY couldn't care less.

And another ingeneous title for you :)

* * *

Chapter 13 – Sitting On A Bomb, Ouch

Where was he?

He tried to open his eyes, but he feared the worst for his situation, as he couldn't open them. He tried to call out in his drug-induced sleep, and heard himself say something that could _just _be interpreted as, "Rose…"

"Doctor?" said someone from a distance, and again, he tried to open his eyes. He failed – dismally.

"Rose…" he called out, and he felt a warm hand rest on his forehead.

"Oh God, Doctor. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I couldn't stop them…"

He groaned outwardly, now truly knowing he _was _screwed.

"I won't let them take you Doctor. I swear to god I won't let them take you."

He managed to raise a small smile in gratitude, but within seconds it had collapsed.

Pushing open his eyes, a blurred Rose Tyler swerved dangerously into view, sitting right next to him on the bed.

"Where were…you?" he wheezed, trying to focus his vision a little more.

"I'm sorry Doctor," she whispered, on the edge of tears. "I went to get something to eat, there were these journalists after you in reception - I couldn't let them have you so I managed to lose them, came back, then they took you for a scan. Oh God, I'm so sorry Doctor, I'm so sorry!" She threw her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. "They're gonna take you away and it's all my fault…"

The Doctor didn't have enough energy to lift his arms, so instead he let his head fall onto Rose's, closing his eyes as Rose curled into him.

"Rose you gotta…get outta…here…" he muttered into her hair. "Someone's either…after. You or…" he gasped as an extra stab of pain hit him. "After me. Get to the…TARDIS, _please_. Keep yourself…safe; use the TARDIS for as…long as you need. Don't try and…operate it, it'll be a…disaster." Every breath he took during that sentence was painful to bear, and made him sound like the disabled guy out of Malcolm In The Middle. He must have realised what a jerk he sounded, because then he added with a pained shrug, "need to shorten…my sentences."

She smiled at him for what she realised would be the last time in her life. They were sitting on a time bomb now; it was only a matter of time till the doctors and nurses saw…

She rested a hand on her stomach, knowing it was either now, or never. She had to tell him. Before he got taken away.

"Doctor," she started, and he grunted as a form of reply. "Y'know, before the crash…I said there was something I need to tell you?"

He grunted again in the affirmative.

"Well, I'm gonna to tell you now. I'm pr…pr…" she stumbled over her words. "Pr…well, y'see, I'm pr…"

"Pretty?" the Doctor proposed with a small smile. However, Rose's face remained solemn – focusing entirely on her words.

"I'm-"

"There he is!" a sudden voice cut her off, yelling from the doorway. "The alien!"

Rose jerked up in a panic, anger rapidly rising within her. They couldn't take her Doctor. Correction; they _weren't _going to take her Doctor.

She bolted to her feet, launching off the bed and tightening her hands into hard fists as she stood between the Doctor and the pair of armed guards and a scared looking nurse now standing at the doorway.

"Ma'am, please move aside, this man is an alien," one of the guards said in an authoritive voice, and Rose sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, LIKE I didn't know! He's not leavin' with you today. It's not gonna 'appen. Not over my dead body."

"Ma'am, do you realise you're interfering with the actions of the British Government and therefore are subject to a severe sentence in prison?" Rose eyed one of the guards as he started to reach for their holster in which a gun sat, and Rose dived forward, drawing it out before he could reach it and slipping it quite comfortably into her palm.

"I _told _you," she hissed, clutching the gun tightly with a deadly aim towards the now weaponless guard, her blood pounding in her own ears. "He won't be comin' with you today."

"Ma'am, put the gun down…"

"I'm not puttin' anythin' down till you get the hell outta this room," she said in a dark voice, taking a few steps backwards towards the head of the bed where the Doctor was.

"No…" the Doctor whispered, and Rose took one hand off the gun she wielded and extended it towards where he lay, not taking her eyes off of the crowd in the doorway. She found his hand and rested her own on it.

"Hmm?" she asked, but his next sentence came as something of a surprise.

"Give it up…"

Her eyes widened, her grip slacking slightly on the gun she held, which quickly reasserted itself.

"What?!" she breathed in disbelief.

"Let them take me…"

"But…but…" she stammered, unable to grasp what he was actually saying. "I'll lose you! I'll lose you forever!" Her head was swimming. Her heart was pounding. Her mind was going into overdrive.

Then she decided.

"I won't let you take him," she whispered hoarsely, aiming her gun at the armed guard. "Not as long as I have breath in my body, or a bullet in my gun."

She pulled the trigger.

_Click._

Her gaze slowly dropped, falling to the weapon clutched in her hand. She tried the trigger again.

_Click._

"Hold on…" she muttered, giving the gun a small whack to try and get it working.

_Click._

"Oh…shit."

The guards started running towards her, the armed guard reaching into his holster to draw out his own weapon. Rose dropped the one she held, verging on panic.

"Run…!" the Doctor put as much power in his voice as he could, and Rose glanced back to him.

"I can't leave you!"

"Get outta here!" he yelled, and his voice was so terrified and full of pain that Rose just _had _to obey.

She darted between the guards that were advancing towards her, both of them collapsing onto the ground as she placed a well-executed double karate chop (Courtesy of Captain Jack Harkness in a play fight against the Doctor and her) to the back of both their necks in one blow. She tore out the room, streaming down the corridor and straight to the lift sat ready at the end.

Suddenly realising the guards wouldn't be out for too long, as she had only been out for thirty seconds and the Doctor forty-five, she suddenly swerved to her right, rushing towards the stairs. She bounded down them three at a time; half afraid she'd fall.

She headed downwards. The Doctor had always told her if she were ever on the run from security guards while in a hospital where he had just been discovered to be an alien that she should always go downwards, into the car park. A bit _too _prepared, now Rose looked at it.

She didn't risk a glance over her shoulder as she tore through the crowd in Reception, not stopping for anything or anyone. If she was going to rescue the Doctor, there would be no profit in getting herself arrested. She was no use to him in a cell.

She bolted through the open double doors of the Hospital, not knowing how far the Security Guards were behind her. She tore across the car park, intending to rush home to Mickey and the laptop. He was good with a laptop. He'd be able to do something.

But she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks as a posh looking black van park behind a cluster of trees registered in her vision. There was white print on the side – 'Tor' something, the rest of the print covered by the greenery.

Maybe…just maybe…if she was lucky…

Taking her chances, she bolted across the car park and ducked behind a silver Porsche Carrera GT, making a mental note to tell the Doctor the baby would want this car for it's first birthday.

She waited thirty seconds, her erratic breathing slowly starting to level. Then she got another thought. Would they hear her breathing? Maybe she should move to another car, further away…

But she didn't even get a chance to move as the sound of gurney wheels on concrete ground echoed around the hospital car park. Rose strained to see the crowd, her eyes finally focusing on the form of the two Security Guards looking a little dazed, a nurse and two paramedics pushing the gurney with the Doctor loaded on.

"Get the alien to the Canary Wharf base. Conduct tests immediately. I want to know everything."

Rose was suddenly alarmed to find there was a person sitting in the car driver's seat of the van. Had she been seen? She could just imagine that woman's authorative voice condemning Rose to death.

The gurney knocked against the door of the van as it was swung open, a small hiccup of pain emitting from the Doctor's mouth. Rose whispered prayers she hadn't spoken since she was nine years old under her breath as a comfort.

"Watch it! I want it in one piece!"

The Doctor disappeared into the van, followed by the two Guards. A paramedic slammed the doors shut, the engine jumping into life as the medical staff started walking back to the hospital. They were nurses and helpers in the bloody medical profession – they were supposed to stop things like this!

She almost ran out infront of the reversing van in a flash of anger and hatred - only just about stopping herself. It turned to the left – towards Rose. She quickly ducked down, only just concealing herself from view as the van disappeared across the car park into the night.

As she stood up tall, brushing her hands of stones and mud that had been clinging to them, she smiled to herself. Straight out of the horse's mouth.

'Canary Wharf'.

How very convenient.

Everything was coming up Doctor.

* * *

**A/N: **And I'll leave you with this thought: 

_"I'm not givin' up, mum, you can't stop me - don't even try."_

_Jackie sighed, bowing her head as she fully realised how much her daughter cared for this alien. If she wanted him forever, then she could have him. Her mother wasn't about to step in the way and ruining what her daughter wanted just because she, personally, didn't like it._

_"Go for it." She smiled, very well aware they might be the last words to her daughter in her life._

That JUST came out the top of my head. But I like it. So I'm keeping it. (Yoink!)


	14. ”I’m Not Gay!”

**A/N: **Wow, I can upload again, there's a miracle. :P

Glad there's a reason I can use for late postage this time :)

And ha, I just realised, I've accidently labelled two chapter sevens...wow, I really can't count, can I?

TIme for a little exporting...

* * *

Chapter 14 – "I'm Not Gay!"

"Nothin' you can say is gonna change my mind mum," Rose insisted, pulling her only black hoody over her head as she equipped for her night out. "He's in there, and I'm gettin' him out."

"Have you _seen _the newspapers recently Rose?" Jackie asked mildly, waving about a copy of the 'Daily Star'. Rose could read the headline quite clearly from where she stood.

**CONVINCT ESCAPES HIGH SECURITY PRISON**

**Police urge witnesses to come forward**

And there she was, her grinning face all over the front page, declaring her as an 'Escaped Convict'. Various words jumped out at her front the frontpage, words like, '**DANGEROUS**', '**SUICIDAL**' and '**AGGRESSIVE**'. In all seriousness – it made her giggle.

"Yeah well you know it ain't true," Rose said offhandedly, hunting through the brown paper bag the hospital had given her as items off of the Doctor.

"I do and you do Rose, but the entire population of the UK doesn't!"

"Mmmhmm," Rose hummed uncaringly, finding the Sonic Screwdriver and placing it carefully into her backpack.

"I'm beggin' you Rose, please don't go get yourself killed…"

Rose didn't bother looking up. "I'm not just doin' it for _my_ satisfaction mum, I'm doin' it for the Doctor _and _our child. Ah!" She smiled, producing the psychic paper and gently laying it in the backpack next to the Sonic Screwdriver.

"If you get caught today Rose, that child will live a life of misery – no parents, no toys, no relations, no happiness, experimented on day and night – all because you wanted to get the Doctor back for yourself."

"Well," Rose considered, getting onto her feet as she threw the backpack over her shoulder. "I'll just have to not get caught then, won't I?"

Jackie swallowed, watching her daughter walk to her horrible fate lying in wait just outside the door. Suddenly she stepped out infront of the door, her arms barring the way.

"I won't let you go Rose," she said firmly with a determined nod. Rose suddenly began to feel incredibly impatient.

"But mum!" she started, and suddenly felt Howard's heavy hand clamp down reassuringly on her shoulder.

"I'll go wit' 'er Jackie," he said in that wistful Irish accent. "It's obvious t'me she loves this alien, so I'll 'elp 'er get him back. I'll look after 'er."

Rose watched her mother closely as her confidence faltered right, right down into the minuses. Jackie paused for a moment, before stepping away from the front door, hands snapping to her hips.

"Make sure ya both wear a coat, it's cold out."

* * *

_Rose._

He tried to bolt upright; panic suddenly erupting within him as his mind went into worry overload. But before he could even start to move his body imploded with pain, making him cry out slightly and relax back onto the table. Fighting all the stinging pains and aches over his body, he opened his eyes and scanned his immediate surroundings thoroughly to decipher what was happening.

He found himself in a small white room, lying flat on a table of metal dressed in a white t-shirt and shorts. He was attached to a ton of monitors, all beeping in steady tones – but at least he was alive.

Even though the lights were out where he was, they weren't on the other side of his room window. He could see a figure standing outside, holding something – a gun? Yes, it was a gun, and wearing body armour, only his head remaining unprotected.

He was in some kind of government base, guarded by the military, who were currently standing outside his door, holding quite large lethal weapons. Whether the guards were there to protect him from anyone coming _in_, or protect anyone from him coming _out, _was an entirely different and dangerous matter, and testing that theory created a 50 chance he'd get killed in some way.

_Rose._

He had to find her. How had to protect her. But how could he get out? Besides – he could be in Germany for all he knew.

Biting his lip, he glanced around the room for something like a security camera or sound bug rigged in the room somewhere. Knowing humans all too well, he knew they would have to track him somehow and he didn't exactly want the entire world watching and listening while he thought of an escape plan.

He searched the room intently for at least five minutes, but could find nothing from where he lay. Deciding to get up and search he tried to pull any to the right, but not only did every single one of his limbs make some sort of protest to the action, he was also bound down – so he just laid immobile on the table.

Then it struck him. Of course. It was so simple. So…easy. He glanced outside the window again. The guard hadn't moved from his position a couple of minutes ago.

He suddenly opened his mouth and cried out in agony, begging for the guard's attention. He fell back onto the table, yelling out blue murder as he twisted manically, fighting the constant pain from his forced jerks.

He heard the door burst open, and he cried out again.

"What's going on?!" the guard yelled, and the Doctor heard a clatter as the gun the guard had been holding hit the floor hard.

"It's hurting!!!" the Doctor shouted out again, twisting over. "Help me!!! Please!!!"

"Where's it hurting?!" the guard asked helplessly.

The Doctor tried to move his hand, but the binds stopped his movement.

The guard saw this, and immediately made a jumped decision in a panic. "Hold on!" And just as the Doctor had expected, he unfastened the bind, and the second after he did the guard felt a sudden excruciating pain on the side of his head, and the entire world turned sideways, and then black as he hit the floor.

"Ah…" The Doctor shook out his hand which he had hit the guard with, and extremely slowly climbed off of the table and onto exceptionally unsteady feet. Given the fact one was fractured and the other burnt to a crisp, it was a surprise he could walk at all.

Slowly hobbling over to the now open doorway, he peeked out the frame and looked from side to side down the hallway. There were more guards posted at the doors at each end of the hall, but they were on the other side of the doors - facing away - oblivious to what had just happened.

Conveniently, there was a lift at the end of corridor.

He staggered down the corridor, as quickly as he could without making too much noise. Slipping into the lift he stabbed at the ground floor button quickly, resisting the urge to collapse onto the ground and fall asleep for an hour or two.

The Doctor suddenly felt the lift stop and he straightened up the best he could, his mind already set out into a plan. Run, basically. Run to the Powell Estate, find Rose, get to the Zero Room and spend a long time in there trying to recuperate. A long, _long _time. Give it a couple of millennia.

The doors slid open, and his jaw dropped.

* * *

Then Jack's face fell. 

Here the two-hearted alien stood infront of him, but this wasn't the two-hearted alien he'd wanted.

He'd been hoping to see those big ears, big nose, blue eyes and a bald head, but was instead face with normal sized ears, normal nose, brown eyes and large quantities of brown hair that seemed nothing short of uncontrollable.

A lot cuter as Jack - being the publicly confessed bi-sexual that he was - had to admit. He sighed to himself as he stared at the wrecked person, who was only just about managing to stand up in the lift infront of him. Maybe it was another Timelord?

The alien moved a hand slowly towards the panel of numbers, and pressed one, not taking his eyes off of Jack.

Jack casually walked forward, strolling into the lift beside the alien as the doors buzzed close behind him. Jack casually began to whistle a cheerful tune, bouncing up and down on his toes as the lift ascended.

"So, d'you come here often?" Jack asked, grinning his broadest grin as the alien just continued to stare at him, looking nothing short of shell-shocked.

"Jack," the alien suddenly said in a voice with no trace of Northern in, frowning slightly. "What are you doing working for a secret government organisation tracking aliens?"

"How d'you know my name?" Jack asked, not answering his question.

"Captain Jack Harkness," the alien blurted out with a nod. "Conman. Rose and me. Sonic screwdriver. Gas mask zombies. London in the Blitz. TARDIS. Slitheen. Gamestation. Daleks. Dancing."

Jack stared at him in disbelief for a few moments, taking in his altered appearance before he opened his mouth. "You're lookin' cute, Doc."

The Doctor smiled slightly as he opened his mouth to answer, but then whimpered in pain as his ribs starting aching, doubling over in pain.

"You okay?" Jack asked, stepping forward to support him.

He nodded, standing up straight and trying to ignore the pains.

"So, what's with the face lift?" Jack asked casually after the Doctor's breathing had levelled out.

"Regeneration," he said simply,

"Regeneration?" Jack frowned. "Always thought that was myth."

"You think red pubic hair's a myth," the Doctor replied simply, and Jack just shrugged.

"And how would _you _know, Doc?"

"Mind easing off on the 'Doc'? Makes me sound like a reject outta…" He breathed in sharply before continuing, holding his chest again. "…Outta a cowboy western."

"Okay, pardner." Jack grinned, putting on a Texan accent. "Gee wiz Doc, how's about some rootin' and tootin' with the town sheriff at the third strike of noon, yeehaw!"

"Shut up."

"Err, incase you hadn't noticed Doc, you're in the middle of a high security government base for dissecting alien lifeforms, and guess what?" He smiled broadly. "I'm in charge. So you'd better start callin' _me _'sir'."

The Doctor let out a snort of laughter, and then caught Jack's expression. "Sorry," he said hastily, before adding with a note of plea in his voice, "can I go then?"

If Jack did _actually_ lead the base, he was making a damn fine impression of totally ignoring his duties. Instead of answering the request, he suddenly clasped the Doctor's face in his own two hands and gave him a big wet kiss on the lips.

Then the lifts doors opened.

Jack didn't stop kissing him though.

The Doctor's frantic eyes searched to outside the lift, where he could see several guards standing and staring at the both of them, transfixed.

After what seemed like hours, Jack drew back and the Doctor gasped for air, immediately turning to face the crowd outside the lift.

"I'm not gay!" he insisted, waving his unbroken arm around in protest. "_He _kissed _me!"_

And within seconds they swarmed onto him.

He felt ropes suddenly bind his hands together, followed by his feet. Several injections stabbed into his neck at the same time and released their substance, and the Doctor suddenly felt like he was on fire, heat searing through his blood and spreading through his body rapidly. He found himself jerking, screaming in agony as his throat swelled up and he found he couldn't breathe properly.

He could barely hear the alarmed cries of Jack from behind him. He felt so sick. So ill. Something was coming out his mouth, but he didn't know if it was blood or foam. He was having a serious anaphylactic attack to some penicillin they'd injected into him, and he was going to die for it.

His eyes ached as all he could see was white - even though his eyes were closed. His head pounded with pain as he tried to breathe in again, but nothing came.

Then blinding white light stopped; only for the mass of blackness that suddenly cast itself onto him, and the Doctor knew no more.


	15. Women And Their Hormones

**A/N:** This is the first time I've written as Jack, so I apologise if he's a little out of character...  
Also, I'm totally obssessed with fitting things into the cannon, so everything's pre-Torchwood. Without having watched the entire series of Torchwood yet I'm trying to explain how Jack's Torchwood got set up in the first place. Of course, it ain't gonna be right, but can't blame me for trying can ya?

* * *

Chapter 15 – Women And Their Hormones

It wasn't _getting _into the base that was the problem; it was finding the Doctor which she'd had a hiccup on.

Common sense said to Rose that by following the trail of guards she should easy be able to find the Doctor with no problems. After all, if something is worth a lot there'll be a ton of protection for it – and the Doctor wasn't exactly your average Joe.

Getting in had been easy. Too easy. Infact, it was almost like someone had _wanted _them to get in. They didn't have to show any ID, any conformation of authority, pow, kersplat, bang, goodbye guard with a whack to the head.

She'd expected a fight in the corridor. Nothing happened.

Laser battle? Fist fighting? Gun wars? That cool scene with the massacre of all the Japanese people from Kill Bill? Attacked by a load of genetic mutants from the labs? They had all been possible scenarios she'd thought possibly could happen, but none of them did. At least - not yet.

She had to keep her guard.

It wasn't until they reached the tunnel to the Quarantine Rooms that she'd experience her first real fight, but oh boy, was it worth it.

"Halt!" A voice yelled from behind the pair, and Rose and Howard both turned simultaneously, a sweet smile stretching across Rose's face. The guard immediately looked surprised, gasping wide at the sight of her. "You!"

"Me!" she agreed, turning into the Doctor. "Hello, there. I'm looking for the love of my life. Reckon you can tell me where he is?"

"Ma'am, please come with me quietly, or I may have to use force," the guard said firmly, hand hovering over the gun in his waist hoist.

Rose just continued to smile, shaking her head in a negative. "Not today, matey."

Thwack.

Rose flinched as the guard's head made contact with the fire extinguisher, making a rather daunting 'clang' before he hit the floor.

"Rose!" shouted a familiar, yet _impossible _voice.

"J…Jack?" Rose stuttered, her eyes widening as Captain Jack Harkness stepped forward into the little light of the otherwise darkened corridor, his undeniably handsome face in a manic grin.

"It's good to see ya again, Rose." He smiled, and before Rose knew it she had stumbled forward towards him with open arms, tears falling quickly down her face as she threw herself onto him.

"Oh God Jack, I thought you were dead!"

"So did I, Rose," Jack replied, the grin not falling from his face.

"How did you survive?"

He paused, clicking his tongue thoughtfully. "One moment I was in a jacuzzi flirtin' with Winston Churchill, the next I was lyin' in the Gamestation, very much alive. I got hit by a Dalek laser Rose – I should be dead."

"But why are you here? In this government base?"

"I work here, Rose. I'm an 'aliens expert'."

"Allegedly," Rose muttered, before grinning widely and looking up at him. Then Jack stopped, pulling Rose away from him and holding her firmly at arm's length, his eyes casting downwards to her womb.

"It's the Doctor's," Rose said immediately before Jack could even open his mouth to ask. Then he started grinning like a maniac again. With his eyebrows raised openly.

"Well congratulations, Rose!" He beamed. "'Bout time you two stopped foolin' around! Was it good?"

Rose sighed, exasperated as she folded her arms and rolled her eyes at Jack. "Is sex _all _you think about? And for your info, it was bloody amazing."

"There's a little baby Doctor in there!" Jack cooed, and he glanced quickly up as Rose's falling face caught his gaze.

"Where is he Jack? What have they done?"

"I'm sorry Rose, I couldn't stop them. The Doctor, he's…" Rose unfolded her arms, panic suddenly finding her heart.

"He's what?" she whispered, not wanting to believe the possibilities crossing through her mind.

"They gave him penicillin, Rose," Jack said gravely, staring hard at her. She just gawped back with an uncanny resemblance to a goldfish, unable to comprehend what he had just said. He looked at her face. "I'm sorry, Rose, I couldn't stop 'em, I swear."

"You, you…" Rose stuttered, her jaw wide open. "You're _with _these people?!"

Jack nearly hit himself on his head for not taking her reaction into account.

"No Rose, it's not like that…" he protested, aware he was arguing pointlessly against a pregnant woman with crazy mood swings. It was like Real Madrid versus Ackington Stanley.

"Oh yeah, then what _is _it like? Ay? AY?!" she demanded loudly. "You _know _he's practically anaphylactic to the stuff! You _knew _and you still let them!"

"Calm down a sec, would ya Rose?"

Wrong move.

"CALM DOWN?!" she screamed, and Jack's ears started stinging. "CALM DOWN?! I AM CALM! I'M SO FUCKING CALM I COULD WIN A FUCKING NOBEL PEACE PRIZE!"

"Rose…" he started forward to touch her.

"DON'T YOU COME NEAR ME YOU BASTARD!" Rose continued to howl, pushing Jack's hand from her. "YOU TWAT! WHERE IS HE?! TELL ME!"

"Quarantine Bay 5," he squeaked, actually terrified of hormonally tilted Rose.

"THANK YOU!" she yelled, swinging around on her heel to head in the opposite direction of Jack. Howard just shrugged apologetically at Jack.

"Hormonal women," he said, before bolting quickly after the fading Rose down the corridor, and the two of them turned the corner.

Jack didn't move, just watched the space where they had disappeared from view with interest. Three seconds later they appeared again, Rose walking back to him as if nothing had just happened.

"Err…where's Quarantine?" she asked finely as she reached Jack.

Jack just grinned, raising his hand to point to his left where a another corridor was.

"That-a-way."

"Cheers." Rose nodded curtly to him, moving to strut off down the corridor with Howard in tow – though she didn't quite get that far.

"Good work, sir!" someone suddenly yelled from behind her, and Rose swung around in alarm to see a small group of guards standing a little while down the corridor, loading their guns with a few distinguished clicks, smiles etched on their faces.

Rose turned back around to face Jack, her jaw wide open. Had he been planning this? To get her to talk just so he could bide time for the guards to arrive? How could he do this? How could he do this to her and the Doctor? Betray them like this?

Jack turned to Rose and Howard, folding his arms with a small smirk on his face.

"Too easy, guys," he said aloud to the guards, and Rose felt herself melt into a small puddle on the floor. No. This wasn't possible.

"Though," Jack continued, rubbing his chin in thought. "I did think I saw another few, possibly four. They got a whole gang here." He pointed back the way the guards had came, and they all turned to look in the other direction on instinct.

Rose could only watch, mildly confused as Jack mouthed in over expressed syllables to her four words she had never thought he'd say.

_Hit me and run._

Too confused to do anything else, she threw out an immediate punch at breakneck speed, catching Jack full on in the jaw before bolting down the corridor with Howard close behind her.

At the cry of pain the guards down the corridor saw Jack doubling over, massaging his jaw as two figures ran off into the distance. Of course, by the time the guards had reached him his jaw had mended itself – another thing he'd have to ask the Doctor about – but he was giving Rose time to find the Doctor and get him out of this God awful place.

"Sir? Are you okay?"

"Don't worry 'bout me," he straightened up to face the cluster of guards, covering his jaw with a hand to stop them seeing the instant healing. "Got a friend who calls himself a Doctor, he'll fix me up later. We've gotta find 'em guys; spread out. You two…" He gestured to two guard in the pack of six, then pointed down the right hand corridor. "Check down there. You two…" He pointed at two more, and then the corridor behind him. "Down there. You two backtrack, check the tower," he said to the remaining two. "And I'll check down here. Check areas and hold your position."

"Yessir!" they all yelled and saluted hard, before bolting off down their respective corridors in a quick march.

"Like candy from a baby…" Jack beamed brightly to no one in particular, before following Rose and Howard to Quarantine.


	16. Dude, Take My Ride!

**A/N: **Here, have two chapters.

* * *

Chapter 16 – Dude, Take My Ride!

"Oh God."

It was then Rose Tyler found what she was looking for.

It seemed all she could do was cry as she ran over to him and stared in shock at what the government bastards had done to him, her tears being tears of joy, relief, fear and anger.

He was shaking violently as if he was freezing cold, with tubes feeding directly into his skin pumped full of god only knows what. They'd tied him down onto the slanted metal table like he was some sort of wild animal, with huge thick binding ropes that were done up so tight they were almost melting into his skin.

Rose suddenly found herself flying into a blinding rage, fists flying as she tried to get the ropes off of his unconscious body. She yelled in frustration as they refused to budge, the tears falling thick and fast before Howard's restraining hand caught hold of her right wrist, and she looked up into warm, comforting eyes.

"We'll get him out lassie, I promise you that."

And that was all she needed to hear.

_Clang, clang, clang, clang._

Rose instantly froze, paralysed by the sound of approaching footsteps from outside the door. Howard, however, had a better grip on himself, and dragged Rose behind him firmly by the arm, diving behind a covered trolley stacked high with tube of blood samples – the Doctor's blood samples. It was no wonder he was still knocked out, they'd taken half of his blood to run their flipping tests.

On a small tray on the trolley by the tubes however, she could see a nice shiny set of sharp looking scalpels.

They were going to cut him up. They were going to cut the Doctor up into tiny, tiny pieces and run some horrible tests on him.

Rose didn't like the idea of an autopsy on a living person.

The door across the room opened, and Rose instinctively ducked a little lower behind the trolley.

"Rose?" came Jack's voice, and in an instant Rose had leapt up from her and Howard's hiding place, moving to bolt over to the Doctor and get him out. But Howard quickly grabbed her arm steadily, preventing her from going any further.

"Dontcha worry your pretty little head there Rose, I'll get the Doctor, you collect the blood samples."

She nodded, throwing her backpack off her shoulder and onto the table, searching out the Sonic Screwdriver from within it. What was the setting for undoing rope again? 15A.

She twirled to top part around creatively, until it said '15A'. She tossed it underhandedly to Howard, who caught it, slightly confused.

"Press the top button and hold it against the rope, it'll break it," she explained, before quickly turning away towards the waiting trolley of blood samples. She grabbed a few of the tubes in her hand, dropping them into the open backpack. She shoved the last of the blood tubes into her bag, doing up the zip and lugging it back over her shoulder. Turning back around she came face to face with Jack cradling the shaking Doctor in his arms, Howard standing just behind him.

"I'm wiping evidence from a government unit!" Rose realised in delight, gently kissing the Doctor on his bandaged forehead.

"There's a back route to the main road," Jack quickly said, starting over to the door of the room. "Follow me guys."

* * *

Jack, Howard and Rose were running like hell. Jack, because he was carrying the unconscious Doctor in his arms and therefore being extra careful, was easily a few paces behind Howard and pregnant Rose and was struggling to keep up.

They slipped quickly through the hole in the fence they'd made on entry, hearing ringing sirens and the inaudible shouts of searching men as the three ran across the open grass to scale the twelve foot concrete wall. This was the difficult part.

Rose spat on her hands in determination as Jack and Howard watched on with a pang of dread, wishing and hoping she wasn't going to fall and break her leg. Never mind the large amounts of police squads and armies that were after them already, Howard would get one hell of a slap from Jackie – and that was ten times worse than being shot five times by the police.

Not to mention the tiny fact Rose was pregnant with a baby that now looked to be at least six months along. Both men weren't exactly experts on pregnancies, but both was pretty damn sure any pregnant woman shouldn't be trying to climb ropes up vertical walls twelve feet high while on the run from the government with an alien that was likely to get her shot.

She gave them a small, reassuring smile as she grabbed the rope, determined with her actions. Her eyes flickered to the man-shaped bundle in Jack's arms for a moment, gaining the inner strength to carry on, and pulled herself up.

The pair of men watched in awe as the pregnant woman ascended the twelve-foot wall in less than five seconds. She really loved the Doctor if she was willing to put her life at risk in order to save him.

As Rose reached the top of the wall she called down to Jack, extending down a hand.

"Gimme the Doctor!" she called, and Jack faintly recalled someone telling him pregnant women shouldn't lift heavy weights…

All the same, he offered the Doctor up to her, whom she received with ease. The wall was barely a foot across and she already felt unsteady enough as it was, even without trying to support the Doctor too - who had started shaking even more.

"C'mon, keep it together…" Rose gripped him tightly in her arms, pushing his head into her shoulder to try and give him some sort of heat from her body. But she didn't really have much more.

A few seconds more, and Howard arrived at the top of the wall. He clambered beside her, looking up to the sight of her holding the shaking Doctor. He immediately whipped off his own coat and put it around the Doctor's shoulders, Rose smiling gratefully at him as she held onto the Doctor tighter, holding the coat around him. She looked down to Jack, expecting him to be half up the wall. But he wasn't. He was just standing at the bottom of the wall, looking up towards her.

"C'mon Jack!" she yelled down to him, but to her utter surprise he shook his head.

"I can't Rose."

"What?" she gasped, shocked. "Stop playin' around! We 'aven't got the time!"

"No, Rose," Jack repeated, and Rose was suddenly aware of the wall of guards running towards them about thirty metres away, their guns held high. "You go without me."

"But…but…" Rose stuttered, on the edge of tears again. "It's not fair! I've only just found ya!"

Jack gave a small smile, throwing his hand into his coat pocket. Rose saw a glint of silver clutched in his hand when he brought it out, and he threw it up to Howard, who just about caught it.

"Here, take my ride," he called up. "Get outta here. I'll be fine, don't worry 'bout me."

Rose just stared at him, only vaguely aware of the Doctor being taken out of her arms by Howard.

"Rose, ge' down," Howard said, and Rose automatically did so, her eyes not moving off of Jack.

"Bye Jack," she called one last time, before wordlessly demising down the other side of the wall to the street. Howard held the Doctor out down to her, whom she received and laid gently on the ground. Soon Howard was standing next to her, holding out Jack's keys and pressing the unlock button. A small flash of light signified their transport, and as Rose saw it she began to giggle.

Jet black motorbike. Wow. What a goddamn sexy way to finish a rescue mission.


	17. Washboard Abs

**A/N: **I wrote this chapter like a month ago so I didn't copy you gnoramus, promise! Cross my heart and hope to die! ...Not literally. Or I'd miss the xmas special. I've always wanted to write a car chase scene XD

* * *

Chapter 17 – Washboard Abs

"I'll drive," Rose grab a black helmet from the pile at the back of the motorbike and pulled it onto her head, before Howard put his heavy hand on her shoulder, pausing in his actions to shove a helmet onto the Doctor.

"Lass, you're pregnant," he said firmly. Rose just stared at him, missing the point.

"Of course I'm pregnant!" she said obviously, tightening the helmet strap around her chin. "C'mon! We ain't got much time!"

"Rose, you're PREG, NANT," Howard repeated slowly, and Rose almost felt sorry for him.

"I _know!" _she declared, taking one last look at the Doctor's face before she snapped the visor down on his helmet.

"You can't drive a mo'orbike!"

"Why the 'ell not?"

"You just can't!"

"I can drive as well as you!"

"I'm sure ya can lass, but…"

"I'LLdrive!!!" shouted another voice, and Rose and Howard nearly jumped out of their skins in shock, spinning around to see the Doctor already in the front seat, firing the motorbike up.

"Are you _kidding _me?!" Rose stepped forward, opening his visor so she could see his bandaged forehead and bruised face. Thankfully the coat was hiding her pregnancy bump _extremely _well. "You're meant to be…"

"I KNOW!"he yelled hyperly, slamming the visor back down shut again. "Now get on the bike and let's driiiiiiiive!!!"

Glancing behind her she could see a squadron of policemen attempting to open the gate to the road. There was no time to argue - the Doctor was driving.

She threw herself onto the bike behind the Doctor, wrapping her arms around his abdomen. She could feel the muscles in his stomach easily through just a coat.

"Oh Doctor, nice abs," she commented with a growl as he gave a few impatient revs, letting Howard get on at the very back. "By the way, 'ave you ever actually driven a motorbike before?" Rose asked patiently, fearing the worst as she slammed down her own visor.

"Once!" he yelled back, revving a little more.

"And?"

"I was pretty good!"

"Doctor, I only have one life – can you remember that?"

She heard him laugh. "This is Grace all over again!"

Rose didn't even bother questioning him as she risked a glance backwards at the group of policemen. They were started up engines and zooming towards them now, lights flashing and sirens louder than her mum screaming. She nearly fell backwards as the Doctor suddenly and rudely sped off without warning at what must have been at least 1000mph – in her opinion anyway. As she swung her head back around, the first thing she saw was an oncoming lorry speeding towards them…it was too late to scream.

All of a sudden the bike swerved to the right missing the lorry at the last second and changing to the lane they were supposed to be in. Rose just about caught the terrified look of the driver as he zoomed past, screaming in total panic as several police cars did the same thing.

Rose was about to _hit _the Doctor when all of a sudden they swerved to the left in a sharp turn, ascending up a hill onto the motorway. Without so much as hesitating the Doctor careered straight over both the sections, several cars braking in alarm and smashing into each other, skidding across their respective lanes.

"AAAGGGGHHH!!!" Rose screamed as the Doctor took one hand off the steering column and started hunting through his coat pockets, the bike screaming towards a very solid looking concrete wall. "WE'RE GONNA CRAAASH!!!!"

The Doctor whipped his hand back out his pockets, the Sonic Screwdriver now clutched tightly. Rose nearly had a heart attack as the second hand came off the steering column, twizzling with the settings on the Screwdriver.

"GET BOTH YOUR HANDS ON THE GODDAMN HANDLES!!!" she screamed at him, but only succeeded in making her throat hurt. They were barely five metres from the wall now, and Rose nearly considered jumping off the bike…but she could only watch in dread as the Doctor raised the Sonic Screwdriver at the wall, and pressed the button.

The wall suddenly exploded outwardly in an almighty bang; rubble, dust and concrete flying anywhere and everywhere. Then as they hurtled through the mess, all Rose could see was a flood of grey as the dust clouded her vision, before promptly disappearing again as everything began to colour. She heard several more smashes from behind her, and instantly knew the gap wasn't wide enough for cars.

Turning her attention back towards their progressing path, she could see the road ahead of them sloping downwards, where at the bottom sat a busy junction, alive with machine life. The bike suddenly started to slow down as the Doctor stopped, contemplating his next move. He revved the engine a few times, and Rose immediately knew his intentions.

"Doctor…" she began as he pulled away slowly across the concrete to a position at the top of the slope. "If you _dare…"_

"He who dares wins Rose!" the Doctor yelled back in delight, and Rose was cut short of saying anything else as he accelerated with undivided determination down the slope.

"OH MY GOD!" Rose screamed as they hurtled straight through the busy junction, narrowly missing a truck on the right as more smashes rang out behind them, indicating a truly lucky escape.

Rose didn't quite know what happened next, but suddenly the world had turned sideways. A shadow was suddenly cast over her as something flew over the bike…something big. Something…heavy. Something…

She then realised it was a lorry.

A lorry was flying over them.

No, wait, scratch that, they were riding sideways _under _a lorry.

_They were power sliding under a goddamn lorry._

She suddenly felt very sick as the bike righted itself, and also mildly amazed. She bet if she hadn't been so terrified she could have looked quite sexy in a pose, her arms wrapped around the hunky life-saving driver. She was in such a daze she wasn't actually watching the road, so the sudden feeling of flying felt nothing short of a dream.

She looked back as the ground disappeared from beneath the bike's wheels, seeing the ramp they had just launched off collapse down to the ground. She giggled insanely, turning back around in time to see the glass smash infront of them.

Suddenly they were in someone's house.

They had crashed right into a sitting room in a flat six storeys high, cruising past a man with a mop of blond hair talking to a slab of concrete. Rose did a double take, recognising the man's face.

"Elton!" she called, waving a hand. He suddenly looked up, his lips pouted in surprise, but his next action was lost as they past out of the sitting room, through the kitchen and out the front door.

They bumped over a few bits of scaffolding, soaring down another ramp with a few more screams of mortification from the bike's passengers onto the concrete ground of Howard's home street. The bike started to slow down as the Doctor let off the acceleration, and it slipped quietly into the already open garage door that buzzed closed behind them and automatically switched on the garage light.

As the Doctor heaved the motorbike onto it's rests, Howard and Rose took off their helmets, staring in shock at the wall ahead of them - the post-traumatic stress really kicking in now. For a few moments the three just sat there staring at the wall, wondering if it maybe had all been a dream.

The Doctor was staring at the wall too, not bothering to remove his helmet. Rose still had her arms around him, but not even that was enough to hold The Doctor as he slid quietly off the left side of the motorbike, hitting the ground in a dead faint.

It was just as well he didn't take off his helmet really, or it could have been a nasty fall.


	18. Do Baby's Know Judo?

**A/N: **Another inspired chapter name.  
And I know this chapter makes Jackie seem really scavvy, but that's the impression I got of her after watching Tootch and Claw. So...don't blame me. (Shields self)

* * *

Chapter 18 – Do Baby's Know Judo?

The first thing Rose felt when she opened her eyes was a strong undeniable urge for peanut butter and banana sandwiches. The second was a bout of nausea – whether it was morning sickness orthe rebound from the previous thought she didn't know, but the next thing she knew her head was in the bowl of the toilet. The third thing she felt however; was a godsend.

She was just making a cup of tea for herself when she felt it. Inside her stomach – something was…kicking.

It was the baby!

She smiled her broadest smile, running screaming hysterically into the sitting room where Howard was watching TV on one sofa, the Doctor laying unconscious on the other. He had started shaking again.

"The baby!" Rose gasped, staggering over to the Doctor. "It kicked! I felt it!"

Howard was immediately at her side, resting a reassuring hand on her back as she knelt by the Doctor's head.

"Doctor! Wake up! You've gotta feel this! It's kicking! It's practising judo!" She tried shaking him, but he didn't respond. Unless shivering even more was classed as a response. She shook him again, this time despairingly. "Doctor…please wake up…_please_…"

But he didn't.

She took his cold uninjured hand and put it to her cheek, the iciness of his fingers coming as something of a shock to her warm skin. She rested her head on his chest lightly, facing his head as she blinked back the tears threatening to overwhelm her.

"I love you Doctor," she whispered. But the only thing that answered her was the sudden ringing of the doorbell from across the room.

* * *

Jackie Tyler bounced up and down excitedly on her heels, a broad grin stretching from ear to ear as she stood outside Howard's front door, her finger easing off of the doorbell switch. 

"Rose is his girlfriend, well, hopefully wife soon," she said off-handedly to the well dressed man standing beside her. "Me and him get along well. Infact, he can hardly stay away from the flat!"

She was blatantly lying, of course. She's rather be shot than to see the Doctor and Rose getting married, and to _hell _if the Doctor ever actually looked forward to seeing her at all.

"'Ello?" Howard suddenly appeared in the doorway, glancing between Jackie and a suited man carrying a briefcase. Wow. He looked…professional.

"'Howard!" Jackie put on a posh accent, completely ironing out all the London. "We were wondering if the Doctor would be willing to talk to me and this…" She mouthed the words with her wide grin still in place, "(multi-billionaire)" She raised her voice again, as though the last two words had never been said, "lovely man about moral matters?"

"He's asleep righ' now," Howard explained, extending a hand to shake the posh man's. "Rose is in if you wanna talk to her though."

The man shrugged nonchalantly, wincing as he pulled away his hand from Howard's vice-like grip.

"It would be an honour to meet his girl."

Howard disguised his frown of confusement as he led Jackie and the man into the sitting room, where Rose was laying relaxed against the sofa the Doctor was laying on. She looked up on the group's entry, giving a weak half smile to the visitor as he stepped forwards to her.

"Rose Tyler?" he asked in a posh accent, and Rose nodded meekly, truly feeling out of place with this well bred man here.

"That's me."

"I'm the father of Katie Hemmington – you may recall her from the crash the other night?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, she was with the Doctor. How is she?"

"Alive, thanks to your Doctor." He smiled weakly. "Both her legs had to be amputated," he said lowly, before raising his voice again, "but she's fine. I must thank you both for your help. But," he started, his eyes hovering slightly towards her womb. "May I ask, how far are you along?"

Rose just shrugged, smiling slightly. "Y'know how it is, seems like only a couple of days ago that pregnancy tester turned red…" she trailed off, though of course, it wasn't a lie. The Doctor's baby was growing a lot quicker than any normal baby, and she now looked at least seven months pregnant - she felt it too.

Thankfully he laughed, although Rose didn't manage more than a small smile.

"I'd like to offer you and your boyfriend a cash grant reward…" The man slipped his hand inside his coat pocket, drawing out a small chequebook. Jackie's eyes glowed.

Rose immediately straightened up. "Err…thanks for the offer, but we don't take rewards."

"Please, it's my way of saying 'thank you' for saving my daughter. The least I can do is help you and your child during your boyfriend's recovery. Besides – I think you'll need a cover, what with all the stories going around."

Rose still seemed a little hesitant, but Jackie jumped in immediately.

"He's right darling, it's not safe for you and the Doctor here, not now," she said. "You need to accept help. I know you two normally manage on your own, but for once the Doctor is hurt and we need to accept help wherever it comes. I know for a fact darlin', the Doctor doesn't 'ave enough money to get stuff to keep a baby."

Rose paused for a moment, glancing between her mum and the Doctor in obvious contemplation.

"…Okay," she finally said. "And it's only 'cause we need help with the baby."

The man smiled, clicking the pen out and scribbling something down in the chequebook, Jackie peering over his shoulder.

"Will £15,000 do?"

* * *

After Jackie and Howard arrived back from their 'test drive' with the cheque for £15,000 around 8:00pm, the entire group gathered in the sitting room to watch an episode of Eastenders. Though, nobody was actually watching it. Not even the enthralling tales of Peggy and the mysterious case of the lighter and the petrol can could distract these people from their thoughts. 

The atmosphere was quiet. Too quiet. Basically, everyone was waiting for the ad break to arrive so they could make their excuses and wander off to bed – wherever that might be.

Jackie looked to Rose sitting next to her, sighing as she watched her run her hand over her womb, staring unseeingly at the television. Jackie was her mother, and it wasn't hard to know what was going on inside her mind.

Two words. 'The', and 'Doctor'.

When he finally woke up, Jackie decide rather bitterly that she would kill him.

Though she couldn't help thinking – maybe it should have been an 'if' instead of a 'when'.

Jackie looked over at the Doctor, making a split second decision as she jumped onto her feet abruptly, tearing over to the sofa where the Doctor lay shaking in his sleep.

"Get some blankets for god's sake, can't ya see he's freezin'?" she boomed in a voice that was pumped full of command and authority, kneeling down next to him.

It took a few seconds for Rose and Howard to react, but God, when they did, it was like a hurricane. One minute later, the Doctor was covered in six layers of blankets and a hot water bottle had mysteriously turned up out of seemingly nowhere, and found itself wedged in between the Doctor's chest and the blankets.

"Get some tea!" Jackie instructed, clapping her hands together in impatience. "Chop, chop!"

"Phew, thanks," Rose said in a breathless voice, thoroughly exhausted from the frantic search for blankets.

"Not for you! For the Doctor!"

Rose sighed outwardly, resting a hand on her stomach where the Timelord baby was happily swimming around in the amniotic fluid with _her _energy.

"You little bastard," she muttered bitterly to the unborn child, but as she made to move off, pain suddenly ripped through her stomach and she groaned in pain, collapsing heavily to her knees.

"Howard! Go make some tea!" Jackie ordered as she left the Doctor's side, and helped her pregnant daughter onto the sofa the Doctor was laying on. "You okay? It's not coming is it?"

"No, just a contraction…" Rose breathed, her eyes slowly passing over her concerned mum and focusing on the shaking Doctor. "God, I hope he wakes up soon mum…"

"He will if I have any say in it Rose." Jackie smiled reassuringly at her. "This baby is his responsibility whether he likes it or not, and he _will _wake up in time to see the pain it's causing you." And with that, she went into the kitchen.

Rose sighed, sliding forward to lay next to the person in question on the sofa. He was still shaking, the unknown virus progressively getting worse.

She bit her lip as she stared at his face, barely inches from hers now. Now she was closer, she could see the full extent of the damage the crash had done to him. His bruised face, blooded head and scarred skin. She pulled his injured arm gently out from under the covers, placing it on her stomach. His hand felt cold, just like the rest of him was. But it was a good feeling.

"Baby, meet your father," she whispered down to her stomach. "He's not well right now, but he'll be there for you. I'll make sure of that."

Jackie suddenly appeared from the kitchen doorway, holding a cup of tea in each hand. She offered one to Rose who took it gratefully, and she momentarily set the other one down on the floor as she pulled the Doctor up to vertical position and held his head up.

"Why's 'e so freezin'?" Jackie asked offhandedly, wincing with the cold as she touched his skin. Rose could only shrug in reply as her mother pressed the scolding hot mug of tea to his lips, pinching his nose and tipping it down his throat.

He suddenly started coughing wildly, bringing it back up. Rose clutched his arm tightly in a panic, her heart in a flutter as he stopped coughing and went completely limp in Jackie's arms.

"Oh god…" Rose whispered in ultimate fear. "He's gonna die ain't he?" she asked mildly, staring pensively at her mother as she lowered the shaking Doctor back to sitting position.

"He won't Rose, I promise." Jackie disappeared out to door to the kitchen again. Rose looked back at the Doctor, holding back tears. Damn baby. Damn mood swings. Damn Doctor. Damn government. Damn buses. Damn hospitals. Damn mortality. Damn God. Damn alcohol. Damn voluntarily sex rampages. Damn hangovers. Damn everything, really.

Jackie returned from the kitchen with Howard, now holding a bowl of soup and a wet flannel.

"Here," she said, holding out the wet flannel to Rose. "Gonna try and get some food down 'im. Probably ain't eaten for a while."

Rose nodded; pressing the warm, wet flannel to the Doctor's forehead and using her other arm to support him up as Jackie brought him back up to battle a second round. She was determined. Rose had never seen her mum _care_ for someone so much, even her own daughter.Either she really _was_ concerned about the Doctor, or she just wanted to nurse him back to health only to take it away again with a slap for getting Rose pregnant. To be honest, in all likelihood - it was probably the latter.

Rose watched intently as Jackie spooned up some of the soup and slipped it into the Doctor's mouth. He visibly swallowed, then seemed to relax in Rose's arms. She smiled slightly. Maybe…just maybe, he would be okay.


	19. Arrest That Cardigan!

**A/N: **It's slightly long...sorry.

* * *

Chapter 19 – Arrest That Cardigan!

His condition rapidly decreased overnight.

When Rose awoke the next morning, she expected him to have at a bare minimum stop shaking, become a little warmer, and maybe even ready to come back to consciousness.

But instead, she awoke to a rather hysterical Mickey yelling something about arresting cardigans…?

Wait…cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest?!

Rose immediately flew out of her bed as well as a woman who looked just about ready to give birth, racing towards the sitting room. There she saw the Doctor in the same position on the sofa, his breathing erratic and dangerously out of rhythm. Crashing onto her knees beside him, she pulled back the dozens of blankets covering him and put her ear to his chest, listening for his heartbeats.

She could only hear one slow, weak beat.

"Doctor…" she whispered fearfully, lifting her head up to see his face again. It wasn't relaxed and even spread like it was last night – it was now contorted with pain and anguish.

She had to do something. She couldn't just let him die; that wasn't what Rose Tyler did. It wasn't what the Doctor did for her. They worked together, solved things together, ran away together, travelled together, made decisions together, got drunk together, had sex together, ate spaghetti and meatballs together…

It couldn't end.

She launched onto her feet, spinning back around in a blur of speed, facing the group of shell shocked individuals standing gawping at the Doctor.

"I know how to make him better," she declared.

"How?" all three people asked at the same time, clearly scared by the Doctor's sudden failure of health.

She swallowed nervously, as if somehow doubting her own logic. "Before he got…" she paused, trying to find the sentence to describe the Doctor's capture without using swear words. "…Taken away, he said somethin' about accelerated healing speeds in the TARDIS."

Howard and Mickey immediately nodded in approval at the idea, but Jackie looked dubious.

"We can't go movin' 'im around whenever we feel like it! He's in a bad enough state as it is already!" She pointed out, annoying correctly.

Rose just sighed and shook her head impatiently, fatigue driving her senses to breaking point. She ran a hand unconsciously over her bump, feeling the baby swim around happily in her womb like it was a theme park. So much for a nine month pregnancy. At this rate she'd be having the baby in Howard's front room in two minutes.

"Please mum…" Rose begged, staring into her mother's eyes with a strong sense of utter despair. She was frantically trying to control her hormones as her hand ran over her womb again. "We've gotta do somethin' or…"

She felt her womb do another painful Braxton-Hicks contraction as she groaned outwardly, staggering involuntarily sideways and falling onto the sofa, her hands held to the painful area.

Mickey immediately stepped forward and sat down next to her, instinctively slipping a supportive arm around her shoulders.

"And the baby's definitely his, right?" Mickey asked casually, watching Rose as she cradled her womb like it held Jesus. Actually, she wouldn't be too surprised if it did.

"Don't get mad Mickey," she pleaded. "We didn't mean for it to happen this way."

He smiled warmly at her. "I know he'd never take advantage over you purposely, okay Rose?" He looked up to Howard immediately, not even waiting for a reply. "D'you wanna gimme a hand Howard? We'll take 'im back to the TARDIS."

* * *

Jackie had never in all (_thirty-nine_ years) of her life seen so many policemen patrolling the streets of London. She didn't even have the _foggiest _idea as to how they were going to get the Doctor from Howard's flat in the Market to the TARDIS in the centre of the Powell Estate without being seen. 

Howard and Mickey carried the half-dead Doctor - wrapped up in layers and layers of blankets down the stairs and into the garage to Howard's battered old fruit van with about a third of the engine missing.

Taking the main road was out of the question, so Howard's useful skills as a deliverer came in handy for unmonitored shortcuts and quick routes. But no matter how short their shortcuts were or how quick the quick routes were, Rose still couldn't deny the fact the Doctor was dying – slowly, but surely.

"How's 'e holdin' out?" Jackie asked from the front passenger seat, and Rose shook her head miserably, holding him tighter in the moment.

"He's barely breathin'," she said in a low voice, resting her hand on his chest again. "There's hardly anythin' there…"

"Put ya foot on it Howwie," Jackie instructed the driver, turning back around to face the front as Howard nodded with a half-smile, cruising coolly through a red light. "We've got a Doctor to cure."

By the time they'd pulled up next to the TARDIS, Rose could no longer hear breathing. He wasn't _actually _breathing in or out…or both.

She had to get him into the TARDIS.

She clambered out of the car in a hurry, pulling the now medically deceased Doctor off of the seat quickly and roughly.

She pulled him with every ounce of the strength she had in her, dragging him with brute force along the concrete to the TARDIS doors. She dropped his arm and immediately began to search out her golden TARDIS key from around her neck, pulling on it so hard that the chain split in two at the back, letting the key loose in her hand.

She jammed it into the door lock, twisting it roughly in a full blown hysterical fit. The door burst inwards immediately, and Rose quickly grabbed the Doctor by an arm and dragged him into the TARDIS console room, not stopping for anything.

* * *

_The first thing I felt when I opened the doors for her, was an extreme amount of sorrow exploding from somewhere inside me. I watched tearfully as she dragged my Doctor, my unbreathing Doctor into the room, a few squeaks outwardly emitting from me as I sobbed shamelessly._

"_Please…" Rose whispered to him, and I could only watch as she too broke down infront of his still body. "Breathe…"_

_I waited a few seconds. Just a few. Every wrong deserves a chance to right itself, and maybe all the Doctor needed was a little tender loving care from his favourite human companion._

_Rose suddenly looked at me, the fear coursing through her looked nothing I'd ever witnessed before or since. I could feel her radiating distress around the room, and since travelling with the Doctor, my emotions sensors were now highly attuned to all sorts of feelings._

_But I couldn't feel anything off the Doctor._

"_Help him TARDIS!" Rose Tyler begged me. The holder of the Bad Wolf. "He isn't breathing, you've gotta help him…"_

_But, Jackie Tyler saved me the trouble.  
_

* * *

Splash. 

Rose watched, mildly surprised as her mother threw the bucket load of ice cold water straight over the Doctor, making him immediately burst back into life with the shock of the water to his skin.

"Doctor!" Rose gasped as his breathing started again, this time shallow – but steady.

"Get him to the Infirmary," Jackie said instantly, producing a towel from seemingly nowhere and kneeling down next to the Doctor, wrapping it tightly around his trembling frame. She lifted him up gently, trying her best not to disturb his injuries too much as Rose made for his legs to carrying him to the Infirmary. She suddenly felt a hand rest on her arm, and looked up to see Mickey's face, solemn looking for once.

"I'll take him, Rose," he insisted, half-expecting Rose to argue with him. But she didn't. She simply stopped back towards Howard, and watched him intently as he picked up the other half of the Doctor.

Rose directed Mickey and Jackie to the last place she'd seen the Infirmary – and whether the TARDIS was being kind or was just concerned for the Doctor, the Infirmary had remained in the same place.

Mickey and Jackie set the Doctor down onto a bed, where Jackie started forcedly rubbing at his wet hair while Rose stood on the other side, linking him to some weird alien machines Rose was sure were useful; though she did admit there was a slight risk that the defibrillator could easy be mistaken for the microwave.

She stayed with him for a while – but had to eventually retire to the Console Room where everyone had gathered, too tired to worry anymore than she already was.

The television in the TARDIS had a million and one channels to choose from, all different and largely variated. But of course, only Jackie would be able to say the dreaded words, "there's nothing on TV."

Though, daytime television was probably more of a Jackie thing – so she was happily entertained while the other three sat in tense silence, the weight of Rose's future now resting on the Doctor waking up.

"He's not gonna wake up, is he?" Rose suddenly croaked, refusing to cry. "He's gonna leave me hangin' for the rest of my life."

No one could offer her words of comfort – because they all knew it was probably true. The government had murdered the Doctor. Jack…Jack had…he'd…what had happened to Jack?

She didn't want to think about it.

She ran her hand over her womb, feeling the baby swimming around inside. Couldn't be long now. What was she going to tell their child when he was older?

"_You're daddy's having a long rest right now because he's tired, but he'll be back before you know it."_

She wanted him back. Back with her. She wanted to confess her undying love for him and kiss him passionately on the lips, dance in the Console Room to the tune of 'Fairytale Of New York' whilst simultaneously playing the banjo.

But, it was never going to happen.

Because now the Doctor was almost dead, and nothing was bringing him back.

Ever.

It was just then by pure coincidence of course, that he appeared in the room.

He was leaning sideways in the doorway, gasping in pain and cradling his ribs in utter agony with his eyes tightly closed to hold back tears. He started to stagger with difficulty towards them and not one person even dared to breathe. It was like he was a vision - like he shouldn't be there.

A few paces further, and his legs collapsed clumsily from underneath him, making him fall down heavily to his knees. Rose flinched as she felt the pain vibrations from his fractured leg and burns, all summed up in a whimper of anguish, which squeaked out his mouth like a wounded puppy's last cries.

She would like nothing better than to run forward to him, kiss him, hug him, and tell him everything was going to be all right. But he'd see her pregnancy bump, which was now the size of a full nine-month-old embryo – and she didn't think he could take it right now.

Jackie saw her daughter's desire to run forward, yet her hesitance for her pregnancy, and decided in two seconds flat, if this was the man she wanted to be with for the rest of her life, her mother might as well start doing favours for her now. So she ran forward to the Doctor, kneeling infront of him as he continued to double over in pain.

"I can't…" he started, breathing in deeply. "Feel my…legs…"

"Than what ya doin' walkin' around then ya prick?" Jackie began to examine his face with her hands in a mother-like way, soothing over all the bruises and cuts etched aggressively into his skin with the pad of her right thumb. "C'mon, we gotta get you back to bed." She stopped examining his face and took his uninjured arm, pulling him gently to his unsteady feet, where for a second he swayed, and then without warning fell limply onto Jackie, who only just about caught him in time.

"I'm…sorry," he muttered quietly, trying to pull away from her. But she was quick to grab him again, holding him close to her for support.

"I'll take pity on you this once." She smiled, slipping an arm around him for support as both of his arms wrapped around her neck, holding onto her for dear life.

Well, scrub those last few thoughts.

The Doctor was back.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, I got a little block in the early hours of yesterday (Or should that be this morning?) and my boyfriend (**Curses**) suggested to write a bit from the TARDIS's POV. So, I thought, 'Cool! Let's try it.'. It was a nice linking paragraph. At least..._I _thought it was nice :) 

Ha, now I've finally woken the Doctor up, I can start giving next chapter previews again.

_Chapter 20 - The Oncoming Tornado_

_"'Ave you got anything to say about that?" she screamed, but the Doctor was too scared to reply. "Well?" she demanded in a louder voice. The Doctor looked absolutely terrified, suddenly finding the bed cover extremely interesting to look at. "WELL?!"_

_He finally summoned up the courage to speak. "I'm sorry," he squeaked._


	20. The Oncoming Tornado

**A/N: **The next few chapters or so have already been pre-written during those long and sleepless nights I so frequently have, but that does mean I've got to issue a warning for a future chapter. I'll tell you when it's coming, but basically if you're one of those people who get easily offended, you probably shouldn't read it.

Anyway, jumping the gun a bit - I've got a B+V project to do.

BTW, has anyone seen this?:

_The BBC have revealed a preview of the new 2007 schedule to the press and once again Doctor Who is the jewel in the beeb's crown._

_The clip shown shows the Doctor and his new assistant, medical student, Martha Jones fully clothed and flirting in bed together._

_Martha tells the Doctor that 'tongues will wag' over their new found friendship._

_"Martha Jones is a medical student working at the Royal Hope in London and that hospital gets transported to the moon, as hospitals sometimes do," BBC One controller Peter Fincham said of the new character's back story. "That's where she meets the doctor."_

_According to some press Martha's attempts to make a move on the Doctor are interrupted by a monster!_

_What is this strange power the Doctor seems to have over women?!_

_We can't wait!!_

Anyone else find that slightly...wrong? Or is it just me who wants to murder the new companion...?

* * *

Chapter 20 – The Oncoming Tornado

Rose stirred from sleep, turning over on the bed, dazed and confused. She'd just been having a really nice dream about maple syrup and bananas dancing the cancan to 'Let's Do The Time Warp Again'. As she turned over, her arm came in contact with a body lying next to her. She opened her weary eyes, seeing the Doctor lying sleeping in the bed. She must have come in here sometime last night.

"Doctor?" she asked, giving him a slight shake.

"Mmm…" he groaned quietly, turning over onto his side and pulling up the cover slightly. Rose smiled to herself. The Doctor was in back the house. Or TARDIS, it seemed.

"Just checkin'," she explained, lying back down facing towards him. "I'm not losin' you again."

He opened his eyes to full extent, feeling more energy flowing through his body. The TARDIS was good at healing. He stared at her, examining her over for the first time for two days. His eyes dropped ever so slightly off of her face, and Rose felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. He was going to see it…

She tried to move to shield it, but frankly, if she wasn't paralysed by panic and actually managed to cover it up, he'd still be able to see it.

She watched his face as he scanned over her womb, frowning.

"Umm, Rose, how long have I been out?" he suddenly asked, staring pensively at her stomach - unable to take his eyes off of it.

"Few days," Rose answered casually, like she didn't have a pregnancy bump the size of Ben Nevis on her belly.

"Either…" he started, running a hand down his unshaven face. "You've gained quite a lot of weight…"

"I'm pregnant," she interrupted suddenly, and he slowly began to nod, mulling the prospect over.

"…That works too," he said in a high-pitched voice.

"It's yours." The colour slowly but surely drained away from his face.

"…That also works." He nodded, his gaze drifting up to meet hers. For a moment they just stared at each other in an awkward moment.

"So, what d'you think?" Rose finally asked, totally dreading the answer. He didn't answer for a moment, his eyes snapping back and forth between her pregnancy and her face.

"I think…" he started, suddenly looking away from her towards the Infirmary door. "That your mum is going to blow up in my face."

"She knows," Rose cut in instantly. "She's subliminally suggesting an abortion."

He shook his head with an apologetic expression. "Impossible."

"I thought as much."

The conversation was strangely disjointed between them. Rose hoped it was just because he was injured and not that the baby had affected it in anyway. She couldn't bear to be mentally distanced from him for the rest of her life.

"But…" Rose started, again fearing his answer. "Is this okay with you? I mean, with you and me?"

He paused for a second, before smiling at her comfortingly. "I couldn't be happier Rose…but…"

"But what?" Rose cut in again, suddenly nervous once more.

He stopped again for a few seconds, but then shrugged and grinned his cheesy grin. "But you're not painting any rooms pink for a Nursery in the TARDIS."

She smiled, leaning forward to embrace him in a hug. "I missed you."

"Missed you too. I think. Well, probably anyway," he hastily clarified, holding her tight.

"Oh look who's turned up!" said an angry, but very familiar voice from the far doorway. "I 'ope you know what you put Rose through you bastard!"

Rose felt him hold her tighter for a little protection. The Daleks had got it wrong. The Doctor wasn't the Oncoming Storm – _Jackie _was the Oncoming Storm. Infact, she was the Oncoming Tornado, tearing houses apart with her teeth and sweeping dogs over to Africa with a small finger flick.

"I 'ope you're not gonna ignore me mister, 'cause I ain't gonna stand for what you did to my daughter you alien freak!"

Jackie Tyler stomped angrily over to the Doctor and Rose, closely followed by Mickey and Howard. She took Rose's arm gently, leading her off of the bed and to her side. She pointed at the giant pregnancy bump, her eyes ablaze as she stared ominously at the Doctor.

"'Ave you got anything to say about that?" she screamed, but the Doctor was too scared to reply. "Well?" she demanded in a louder voice. The Doctor looked absolutely terrified, suddenly finding the bed cover extremely interesting to look at. "WELL?!"

He finally summoned up the courage to speak. "I'm sorry," he squeaked.

"Sorry?! My daughters got an alien species floating around inside her, probably eating up all her insides and sucking out her brain cells, and all _you_ can say is 'sorry'?!"

The Doctor raised a hesitant hand. "If it's any contemplation Jackie, this baby can't…"

"Mum," Rose suddenly interrupted, sensing if the Doctor went any further he'd get a slap. "I think you're going a bit over the top with this…"

Jackie smiled sweetly at her daughter. "Don't worry Rose, mum's sortin' this out right now." She turned back to the Doctor, her face thunderous again. "AND you were too busy having a snooze to care anyway!"

"My body closed down to prevent further poisoning, and…"

"That's what they _all _say…"

"I had a violent chemical reaction to the penicillin I was given, it hijacked my bloodstream and some of it infected one of my hearts - my body closed down to attempt to dissipate the dangerous chemical from my vital organs."

"So you're sort of…anaphylactic to painkillers?" Mickey asked suddenly, and the Doctor nodded.

"Sort of. One tablet can kill me."

"Must be 'ell when you 'ave a headache," Mickey muttered from the side of the room, standing next to Howard. The Doctor smiled a little, and Rose gripped his uninjured arm tightly, almost afraid she'd lose him again.

"But that 'as nothin' to do with…" Jackie tried to speak, but was swiftly interrupted by the Doctor.

"Without the constant care and attention the TARDIS gave me it would have starved each of my organs of oxygen," he said, utterly serious. "If I wasn't brought here I would have died. The TARDIS is sort of like a life support machine, and even now she's giving me a fair bit of energy to use, otherwise I'd be in a coma. I swear Jackie, if there was any other way to stay conscious with Rose I would have taken it without hesitation, but there _was _no alternative. Hate me for it if you want, but I already hate myself for it because there was absolutely _nothing _I could do but wither away."

Jackie fell silent.

"Now that's cleared up," the Doctor carried on cheerily, "can someone tell me why I can taste tomatoes?"

Rose grinned, but didn't answer. She moved back over to the Doctor, away from her staring mother and sat next to him on the bed, cupping his chin and looking at the cuts and bruises on his face closely in inspection. They were definitely healing. His chin felt rough with three-day-old stubble, but she didn't care. He was alive.

She gently reached up to the bandage around his head, slipping it off to reveal a bruised head. She tossed the bandage on the bedside table and threw her arms around him another time, truly relieved and elated to see his eyes open again.

"Ow!" the Doctor gasped, and Rose immediately backed away, looking at him with concern.

"You okay?"

"Ribs," he explained, wincing as he put a hand to the painful area.

"Aww, poor Doctor," Rose said condescendingly, taking his broken arm and rubbing his hand gently in a patronising way. He rolled his eyes.

"Hey, it's only a scratch." What a lie. "Besides, it's you I'm worried about. Don't step out of the TARDIS doors, especially while your pregnant. Those Darkeese have been sent after you and I swear, as soon as I can stand up for more than two minutes, I'll track them down to the source and get rid of them."

Rose just rolled her eyes. "_You _Doctor, _you _don't have a bone in your body that is actually in one piece. How d'you think you're going to get rid of a bunch of ninja shadows? Besides, why the hell are they chasin' after me anyway?"

He didn't verbally reply – instead, he just cast an eye down to her womb, and she followed his gaze.

"The baby?"

"The baby," he confirmed solemnly. "You're carrying a Time Lord child in there Rose. Your organs have been temporarily shrunk to allow maximum amount of development, your internal systems have been given a wash and your entire outer frame at this stage in pregnancy, is now practically made of concrete."

"Wow, that makes me feel _so_ attractive," she replied sarcastically, absently tapping her rock hard arm.

"The baby's safe as houses Rose, trust me. I'm concerned more about you. You're carrying the only Time Lord child in the universe in there, and there are some people who will stop at nothing to get him."

"Her," Rose corrected.

"Him," he insisted. "So do you understand me Rose? You can't go outside."

"Right," she confirmed, inclining with a nod. "Outside is a no-no."

"Can you check on the baby though? Check it's okay?" Jackie asked suddenly, and the Doctor regarded her in judgement for a few moments, before nodding with assent.

"Sure."

* * *

_Chapter 21 -__ They're The Doctor's  
_

_Rose and Jackie stared at the two men in disbelief, unable to comprehend the possibility that they were talking about makes of television at a time like this._

_"Just for medical stuff?" Mickey asked, and the Doctor shrugged._

_"Depends. It also gets the football. Look…" He held the remote up to zap the channel, but Jackie's dominating voice soon made him freeze in his actions from true fear._

_"I'd put that remote down if I were you Doctor."_


	21. They're The Doctors

**A/N: **The trailer for The Runaway Bride looks bloody AWESOME. You've all gotta see it - tis on the the BBC /doctorwho site on today's advent day. I mean, David Tennant drenched in water, large amounts of explosions and (On Youtube - I LOVE YOU DOBO!) four minutes of a car chase scene. Fantastic.

Sorry, having a Doctor Who Meltdown.

* * *

Chapter 21 – They're The Doctor's

"Rightiho…" the Doctor muttered, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen from the side table to take a few notes down, making Rose - who was lying on the examination bed – very nervous indeed.

"Err…what exactly are you doing?" she asked hesitantly, and he smiled reassuringly at her.

"Gotta work out exactly how old it is so I can check it's growing at the normal rate inside a human being."

Rose gulped. "Sounds scary."

"Just a test." He shrugged non-chalantly, pausing for a moment as he stared uncomprehendingly down at the blank piece of paper before him. "Err…" He put the nib of the pen onto the paper, pulling it down and round in a banana-like shape.

"Nice drawing of a womb," Mickey noted, genuinely impressed.

"It's err…meant to be a zero." The Doctor clicked his tongue inside his cheek. "I'll try again…"

Rose peered at his next creation, refusing to giggle at his expense.

"You're good at drawing breasts too…" she duly noted, trying so hard not to laugh as he stared at the paper like it held the most impossible task in the universe. "Let me guess…mean to be a three?"

"A three," he agreed, dropping the pen onto the table to reach up and tug at his hair. "It makes my head hurt…"

Rose faintly recalled the warnings of Dr. Jones from the hospital about not being able to do simple tasks for a while, and smiled at him in pity.

"Look, how about mum writes down the figures for you, and you just be the doctor?" Rose suggested, and he nodded in agreement, pushing the paper towards Jackie standing on the other end of the table.

"Jackie…can you write down exactly what I say please…zero, three, five, one, eight, seven, zero, zero, minus one, minus six, nine, three, three, three, two. Got that?"

Jackie nodded, about to push the paper back to him, but he suddenly started talking again and Jackie quickly put pen to paper.

"Right, underline all of that, now, put eight hundred squared plus seventy nine cubed fresh a couple of lines down – in brackets, divide…yeah…the line underneath…yeah, divided by n squared multiplied by two, also in brackets. Now, square all of that, more brackets, yep…more brackets and a zero, put an equals sign at the start, preceded by another zero."

Jackie's hand was zooming around the paper, printing a very complicated looking sum, which seemed daunting to Rose.

"Err…what does that mean Doctor?" she asked, absolutely terrified.

"Oh, nothing much. I just like making your mother write."

Rose couldn't help but laugh as he quickly grabbed a metal implement that looked slightly like a plunger on a wire from the side, holding it between him and Jackie as a weapon.

"Ahaha…Jackie! This may LOOK like a plunger, but it is infact a death ray constructed by the evil Mr Snippy from the planet Bogus! And I'm warning you, you come anywhere near me with that hand of yours and I'll have to use it on you…"

Jackie didn't seem at all daunted by the death ray, and the Doctor grimaced.

"Come near me and I'll use the death ray on…" he let it hang in the it for a second, before swinging around to Rose and pressing it to her swollen womb. "ROSE! MUAHAHAHA!"

"It that the baby?" Rose suddenly asked in amazement, making Jackie stop dead in her tracks and look up at the thirty-six inch screen hanging from the ceiling.

There they could all see tinges of blue in amongst black, forming, what looked like some kind of alien curled up in a ball. Only just though.

"Looks like a mess," Rose commented, and the Doctor just rolled his eyes.

"Hold on…" The screen image suddenly became colour, and now the baby could clearly be seen in amongst the amniotic fluid. "A boy," he determined. "Let's call him Alexis."

"No," said Rose abruptly, mockingly hitting him with a small smile. "Let's call him…" she pondered for a moment, before her mind flitted back to the boy who had saved the Doctor's life that night in the crash. "Rory."

The Doctor frowned. "Talk about a human sounding name…"

"His name's Rory, end of."

"Alexis Rory Sigma-Tyler?" he proposed quietly. Catching Rose's look of confusement, he merely shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "Old college nickname. Theta Sigma."

"Okay then…" Rose licked her lips devilishly. _"Theta." _The Doctor glared at her.

"I just want him to be separated from…" he trailed off, not willing to risk a slap from Mrs. Tyler while his body was still trying to heal. "…Just want him to be independent."

Rose smiled to herself, able to read the Doctor's thoughts from the expression on his face.

"Fine. Rory Alexis Sigma-Tyler."

"Alexis Rory Sigma-Tyler."

"_Rory, Alexis, Sigma, Tyler," _Rose repeated slowly and firmly, folding her arms and pretending to turn up her nose at him.

"Is it wavin'?" Jackie suddenly pointed a finger towards the screen, and she _was _totally right. In the corner of the screen a little hand could be seen waving for attention. Everyone smiled, including the Doctor, but suddenly his smile faded, and he started to click his tongue again.

"Hold on…"

He moved the 'plunger' across Rose's womb towards the hand, and immediately there was another baby, bright eyed and happy, waving it's hand manically.

"It's a girl…" the Doctor realised, watching with intent. When the girl realised it now had centre stage, it dropped its waving hand and poked the sleeping twin beside it, and pointed at the camera. Suddenly they both started waving, and everyone started laughing again.

"They're definitely yours, Doctor…" Rose grinned at him, and he grinned back, raising a hand and waving it in the air as if to mirror the two babies.

"They're pretty clever aren't they?" Jackie remarked, peering closely at the screen.

"They're the Doctor's," Rose said in explanation, and everyone nodded in agreement.

They all stared at the screen, a smile etched on each of their faces, where now the two babies had started dancing the tango.

"Are they dancin'?" Mickey asked, genuinely surprised as he peered at the screen.

"They're the Doctor's," everyone apart from the man himself answered back in unison, who just shrugged.

"Nothing wrong with dancing."

"Give 'em a banana each and they'll be in heaven," Rose giggled, and the Doctor smiled widely, sitting down onto the bed at her waist with the device still pressed to her womb at the two babies. They provided good entertainment – they seemed to be acting out some sort of script between each other, playing to the camera.

"This is a very good TV…" Mickey suddenly noted, stepping forward to examine the screen. The Doctor nodded, grabbing a remote from the side and holding it up.

"Auto-collapse, fits into the ceiling neatly, plate slides over. Compact space saving. Thirty-six inch flat screen with built in DVD and video. Samsung, none of your Phillip's rubbish."

"Plasma?"

"Naturally."

Rose and Jackie stared at the two men in disbelief, unable to comprehend the possibility that they were talking about makes of television at a time like this.

"Just for medical stuff?" Mickey asked, and the Doctor shrugged.

"Depends. It also gets the football. Look…" He held the remote up to zap the channel, but Jackie's dominating voice soon made him freeze in his actions from true fear.

"I'd put that remote down if I were you Doctor."

He automatically let go of the remote, letting it fall onto the Infirmary floor with a small thud.

"Yeah, sorry…" he muttered guiltily, making his hand holding the device more secure on Rose's womb. But as he looked up at the screen, he noticed the babies were no longer dancing…

"Are they fightin'?" Rose asked, and the Doctor shrugged in reply.

"They're mine…?" he asked mildly, leaning down to her womb and shouting directly into it, "oi! You two! Stop fighting inside your mother!"

On the screen the babies shied away, covering their ears with tiny hands. The Doctor grimaced.

"Sorry," he said hastily, running a hand over the part of Rose's womb not covered in gloopy ultrasound stuff. He leant forward and dared to give Rose a peck on the cheek – after all, she _was _carrying his twins. She smiled back at him, reaching up her arms to receive a giant hug, which he was all too happy to oblige.

"Congratulations, daddy," she said over his shoulder as he held her tight.

"You too…mummy."

"So when we expectin' the babies?" Jackie interrupted the silence that followed, and the Doctor pulled back from the hug to do a quick scan with another 'alienic' device.

"What's that?" Rose asked, looking at the device observantly. "Looks like a sandwich toaster."

He shrugged mildly, giving it a sharp hit to jolt it along. "Probably is. BBC props…" he muttered, and everyone looked at him in confusement.

"Ay?"

"Nothing, never mind," he dismissed, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Gallifreyian pregnancies last a week. And you're what…at five days?"

She nodded in affirmation, unconsciously running a hand over her stomach while the Doctor carried on.

"You're due in two days then. But even if they're born now they'll be able to survive, after a few weeks of care from the TARDIS. And we've got twins, which is good."

"How's that good? Twins equals more pain Doctor," Rose reminded him, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Ever heard of the Emperor Penguin Rose?"

Rose stared at him. "What?"

"Emperor Penguins. Live in the Antarctic. Antarctica! I should take you there someday…nice views, kinda chilly for a bikini there though. I went there once. Met a man named Roger. Tried some whale blubber…kinda weird tasting, but I suppose it's all they got out there…"

"Get to the point Doctor."

He smiled apologetically looking a little disappointed, but carried on nonetheless, "well the Emperor Penguin always lays two eggs. The second one's there incase the main one isn't healthy – so if the main one _is _damaged in any way, the second one's there as backup. Sort of like a spare tyre in the back of a car. But if it is fine, then they discard of the second egg, regardless of whether it's healthy or not. The Timelords did the same thing."

"But we're not gonna discard one of 'em are we? _Are we?" _Jackie demanded, and the Doctor nodded hastily while Rose giggled.

"So what I'm saying is Rose, you have the ability to deal with Timelord chromosomes, which is good. The birth'll be much smoother. I was only born as a single baby - my mum had a bit of a hard time, and I only just survived."

Rose grinned subtly at the thought of a baby Doctor shoving things in his mouth and chewing on them, eating marmalade out of the jar, getting covered in chocolate and mud - comparing him to now. Wasn't that much different, to be honest.

"Are these gonna be like weird alien babies with superhuman powers?" Jackie asked, and the Doctor shrugged.

"They'll only have part Timelord genes, and won't get two hearts till their first regeneration…if they _can_ regenerate. Can't really tell until they grow up."

"Still alien then…" Jackie muttered, and the Doctor rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed. "So they're not gonna be slime dripping six headed monsters?"

The Doctor looked just about ready to blow a fuse as he scrunched the empty plastic cup up in one hand subliminally. "No," he said in a firm voice, refusing to make eye contact with her, before continuing in an abrupt voice, "you're lucky Gallifrey isn't around. If they got a whiff of this, they'd kill me and send me on exile for my last few bodies, probably kill Rose, and the baby…well…the baby…" he trailed off, and Rose saw real sadness in his eyes. "Let's not go into that."

There was another brief pause, before Jackie spoke again, and the Doctor went overboard.

"Six arms?"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I HAVE SIX ARMS?" he bellowed angrily, waving two arms about in the air infront of her to demonstrate the point. Then stopped.

Rose felt her stomach churn with the pain of a contraction, and at the same time the Doctor suddenly doubled over, clutching at his head in pain. He staggered sideways as he lost all support, hitting the table on the side as he tried to control the pain, falling to his knees.

Rose struggled up the best she could while carrying two huge nearly fully-grown twins in the midst of a contraction, and knelt next to his side in a panic before he collapsed into her arms in a dead faint.

* * *

_Chapter 22 – The Quest For The Rubber Duck_

"_Rose, incase you 'aven't noticed, he's an alien…"_

"_Congratulations mum! You finally realised!"_

"_I'm just a bit worried…"_

"_About what mum? About what?" Rose demanded, bolting onto her feet and leaning over the bed, closer to her mother. "He's protected me for my entire life with him and given me everything I've ever needed and more, what could you POSSIBLY be worried about?"_


	22. The Quest For The Rubber Duck

Chapter 22 – The Quest For The Rubber Duck

Mickey and Howard covered their ears at the sound of the two women screaming hysterically from two feet away in a mother-daughter battle.

"You've hated him! You've always hated him! Why do you have to make it so damned _hard _all the time?" Rose screamed at her mother as she sat next to the unconscious Doctor in a chair beside the bed.

"I only want what's best for _you _Rose, and…" Jackie tried to protest, sitting the other side of the Doctor in another chair, in effect the two were screaming over him.

"And he's not? How _d'you_ know what's best for _me?"_

"Rose, incase you 'aven't noticed, he's an alien…"

"Congratulations mum! You finally realised!"

"I'm just a bit worried…"

"About what mum? About what?" Rose demanded, bolting onto her feet and leaning over the bed, closer to her mother. "He's protected me for my entire life with him and given me everything I've ever needed and more, what could you _possibly _be worried about?"

"Just bein' friends is one thing Rose, but when you start 'aving _babies _all over the place you gotta start replanning!"

"Mum, the hardest thing that comes with these babies is choosing which room they sleep in! What else could there possibly be?"

"You gotta start thinkin' about commitment, marriage, education, inoculation…"

"Mum the Doctor's gonna sort all that!"

"There ya go again, layering it all onto the Doctor! 'Ow d'you know he's even gonna still be with ya before the baby can walk?"

"The Doctor would never ditch me!"

"Because the Doctor is 'Mr Right'?"

"Yes, he _is, _and if you can't be happy for me, then…I suggest you leave mum."

There was silence in the room, as Rose lifted a finger and pointed towards the doorway, looking hard at her mother.

"But-" Jackie started, but was swiftly interrupted by Rose again.

"Just, go."

"I think it's me who has to go."

Rose swivelled around at the sound of the voice, seeing the Doctor with his eyes open, looking sadly at her with puppy dog eyes.

"Doctor! How you feelin'? Okay? Does it hurt? D'you need anythin'?"

He ignored her string of questions, pulling himself out of the bed and onto wobbly feet.

"Are you bloody insane?!" Jackie stepped boldly infront of the doorway, preventing him from walking out of the Infirmary. "You can't even shout at me without passing out!"

"She's right," Rose agreed, before adding, "for once. You can't go out walkin' now, you've gotta get better."

The Doctor didn't say anything, just walked over to Jackie, staring into her eyes hypnotically.

"Let me out please Jackie."

"No."

The Doctor sighed dejectedly, resting a hand on each of Jackie's shoulders before pushing her aside, firmly but kindly.

"I'm sorry but I have to," he said gently, and Jackie suddenly looked thunderous. Rose stepped forward towards him, sensing 'mother danger' was near.

"I'll go with him, we can work things out between us. We'll be back by six." Without even waiting for a reply, Rose grabbed the Doctor's hand and dragged him out the door as fast as his damaged legs would allow.

* * *

Rose looked on at the Doctor in pity, sensing the huge amount of tiredness running through him everytime he tried to look at the page of the book he was holding. She shuffled towards him carefully, positioning herself on the sofa next to him, deliberately putting her arms in a fold around his neck as they both leaned into the book. 

"I can't read it," the Doctor declared as he snapped the book up suddenly, nearly making Rose jump ten feet into the air in surprise. "It's just…everything's…"

Rose shushed him in mid-flow, pressing a hand to his shirtless bruised chest; feeling the rhythmic beating of two hearts that were still partially recovering from the trauma. "It'll get better, you've just gotta rest for a while."

The Doctor smiled at her, watching her trace her finger along a stitched up cut scored roughly into his skin in amongst the bruises.

"Grrr, chest hair…" Rose growled, and he grinned, pulling her across his lap sideways so the pregnancy bump was right infront of him as Rose sat up vertically against the wall behind her.

"Cooie!" he called, rapping gently on the bump. "Anyone home?"

No sound came from her womb, so the Doctor put an ear flat onto it, listening intently for signs of his two children. Seconds passed. He suddenly drew back sharply, letting out a moan as he clasped the side of his face.

"Kicked me! The little…"

Rose couldn't help but laugh as he sat there staring at the bump with revenge, before pointing at it sincerely as if he was talking to a real person.

"Whichever one of you did that better own up now, or I swear the second you come out your mother's womb it's straight to the Orphanage." He paused for dramatic effect, and then added, "for both of you!"

Rose burst into giggles, before the Doctor kissed her womb and rubbed his hand over it carefully. She went quiet, both wanting him to do even more, yet at the same time wanting him to stop. It felt…wrong.

She was a nineteen-year-old girl, barely three years out of school and as of yet unable to buy those cheesy puff things in a supermarket without flushing an embarrassed red and running off giggling. But now here that girl was; pregnant with the babies of an alien Timelord who was more than thirty-six times her mother's age that went around in a time travelling machine called the TARDIS, which not to mention provided copious amounts of alcohol for two people.

Wow, she was really going to enjoy that question, wasn't she?

"_Mummy, how was I made?"_

"_Y'see, one night your father and me got completed smashed out of our skulls in the TARDIS kitchen, and after a brief interlude of visiting my mother, borrowing some llamas from the zoo and stripping down in my bedroom to our underwear, we ran out into the street with just cloths to keep what little we had left of our dignity and screamed 'God has saved us all!' at the top of our voices before disappearing into the TARDIS to have mad passionate sex in your father's double bed - which frankly was fantastic – and by the way, we never DID find the rubber duck."_

"Rose…" the Doctor suddenly muttered, leaning over her body with one hand on the cushioned wall on the left of her head, the other clutching the edge of the settee on her right.

"Yes, Doctor?" she asked in a whisper, suddenly hit full on by every piece of love she was and had ever felt for the Doctor in her entire life with him. He leant closer, gazing into her eyes as her blood pressure sky-highed and crashed through the roof, letting in a small, warm draught that Rose was able to realise was actually the Doctor's breath on her face.

"Rose…" he said again, and Rose knew his gaze had locked onto her face, and wasn't moving anytime soon. She closed her eyes, opening her lips ready to receive the kiss that was sure to come. She could feel him progressing closer towards her, the feeling of flying setting in as he was now less then an inch away…

"Rose, you've got a mark on your face…here…lemme get it off…"

She jerked open her eyes in surprise as he licked his thumb and started rubbing hard on her cheek, trying to get rid of the mark as her head bobbed up an down with his efforts. She sighed dejectedly, realising that if she wanted a job doing properly, she'd have to do it herself.

"Here goes nothing…" she muttered, before looking straight at the Doctor in the eye, and launching herself onto him in a flush of pure passion and ecstasy. The Doctor fell backwards in surprise, landing with a yelp on a squishy beanbag in a very confined area a foot below the sofa. Rose landed directly on top of him as her lips interlocked with his, forcing her tongue down his throat as if she was going to rip it out in a kissing frenzy.

There were no holds barred as she nearly tore his hair out, which strangely for him began to feel slightly erotic in mid-flow. He began to kiss back. To hell with it. It wasn't like it was illegal or anything. They were both fully-grown adults able to make intelligent and responsible decisions for themselves, he reasoned. Just not while she was trying to tear what little clothes he had left on – like now.

"Doctor…" Rose had time to breathe as she drew back for a second to get some oxygen.

"Rose…" he whispered back, drawing her into a kiss again.

"Doctor…"

"Rose…"

"Doctor…"

"Rubber duck…"

Rose chose to ignore this last comment he'd made, concentrating too much on the kissing part to care about the speech.

When she first felt the nudge in her side, she had presumed the Doctor had moved his leg to a much more comfortable position, but when the Doctor had suddenly yelled, "go away!" she had turned to find a small camera floating about where the nudge had come onto her side.

"What…?" she started to say, but the Doctor just reached up a hand to bring her face back around to his own again, muttering something about the TARDIS and blackmail.

Then Rose had to stop as another contraction pulled across her stomach, making her pull back from him as she cried out in pain. But then she realised – the Doctor had cried out too, clutching his head as a burst of pain channelled right through its centre.

"You okay?" she asked after the moment had passed, and the Doctor nodded bleakly, looking up at her as he rested a hand on her stomach.

"Probably just a psychic connection of some sort, I'll sort it out later. Anyway, where were we…?" He pulled her back in again to kiss, but another contraction made her back off of him, falling into sitting position on the sofa as she clutched tightly at her womb. He was crying out with her as he stood up, gripping his forcefully pounding head in total anguish. His eyes were scrunched up tight, hands tugging firmly at his hair as he fell to his knees, coursing with pain.

Then, it stopped.

For a few brief moments all the Doctor could do was gasp for air as Rose stared on in alarm, unable to say anything. It was the contractions that were doing this to him.

"Rose," he panted, looking at her carefully. "There's a very strong possibility you're going into pre-mature labour."

"It's a bloody quick labour!" Rose replied in a whiney voice, and he pulled himself to his feet.

"Gallifreyians were weird like that." He walked over to her, checking her over carefully. "We've gotta get back to the Infirmary. Can you walk?"

"I'm sure I'll manage," she sniffed, and he pushed her infront of him, hands on her waist to guide her back through the TARDIS. The Doctor hoped to Rassilon the TARDIS was still keeping an eye on them, and was politely going to rearrange the corridors so they could get to the Infirmary fairly rapidly before Rose had another contraction.

Of course, it was sheer coincidental bad luck that Rose happened to have another one the moment he'd thought that.

The now very familiar searing pain flashed through his head, immediately making him cripple and fall heavily to his knees behind Rose, crying out again.

Rose couldn't do anything for him – that was the horrible part. He shouldn't have to feel the pain, _this _pain that was supposed to be _her _pain. She even half wished Jackie was actually hitting him; at least she would be able to physically see what was causing his pain and be able to stop it. But what was she supposed to do now? Stop the contractions from labour? Damned impossible.

He was now on the floor, screaming and writhing in pain from the unknown force beating at his head. As the pain intensified even further inside her, he seemed to go limp on the floor and silent from the screaming, although he was still jerking around involuntarily like he was being electrocuted. The pain slowly diminished, fading out and out and out until it became nothing inside her again, and she lifted her head to the Doctor.

He'd passed out, that was for sure.

"TARDIS!" she called out, another wave of pain in her stomach starting the reaction in the Doctor all over again. "Help us! Please! If you can hear me TARDIS, please help!"

* * *

**A/N: **Whew! Thanks guys for lasting this long. It'll be a chapter a day until I get till the end of my pre-written ones and have to start writing again. By the way - that's only two chapters. 

I'm working on LA as I SPEAK, I swear. Kinda. Get me off Tekken and I'll do it!!

Chapter 23 – There Is No Chapter 23

_"Daddy?"_

Ooo, exciting, isn't it:P


	23. There Is No Chapter 23

**A/N: **Wow, finally, an average sized chapter. Another one tomorrow and then you definately won't get anything until monday night, if I work hard. If not, tuedays. And yes, I am planning to continue through the break, it should be finished pretty soon. About...hmm...four chapters left? Maybe five. I'm not sure.

Thankee to all reviewers, I nearly forgot to post today, you can thank **eyliena **that I actually remembered...:P Honestly, I think I'm losing my mind O.O

And yes. I am mean. Oh so mean.

Here's some weird psychic stuff. :P

* * *

Chapter 23 – There Is No Chapter 23

The Doctor's head was pounding even worse than his hangover a few days previously. As he slowly gathered his senses, he tried to lift his head and open his eyes, but nothing reacted to his strains. He had a feeling if he just let himself relax for a moment he'd pass out again easily.

"She's 'aving a hard time," came Jackie's smooth voice from a distance, and the Doctor just listened. "It was false labour. The thing the TARDIS gave us to help her is definitely workin' though. Anythin' 'appening here?"

"Still out. Getting slightly better though," Mickey's voice replied.

"I wish these babies would 'urry up and goddamn _come," _Jackie muttered, closer to him now. "It's killin' the Doctor and drivin' Rose sick with worry for 'im."

"Rose…?" the Doctor asked suddenly, opening his eyes to meet the blurry figures of Jackie and Mickey leaning over him. "Where's Rose?"

"Rose is fine sweetheart, you just rest." Jackie smiled at him reassuringly, but he shook his head, getting on his elbows and peering around the Infirmary.

"Please, I've gotta see Rose…"

"I've told ya Doctor, she's doin' fine. But she won't be if you don't rest," she insisted, brushing some hair out of his face caringly.

"But where-" He suddenly interrupted himself with a yell of more pain as Rose had another contraction, falling back down onto the bed and scrunching up his eyes tight, his body thrashing around under it's own influence.

"Shush…" Jackie hushed him as the pain wore away, putting a hand on his forehead. "It's okay…stay still…" He actually thought for a moment that Jackie had been abducted by aliens and had been replaced by some kind of freaky alien mother-like thing. Although, it was more likely that she was caring for him to make sure he was still alive at the birth. Or maybe she was just being nice?

He was too gullible. The needle pierced the vein in his arm with a minute amount of pain, and before he even had time to react the liquid had filtered into his blood stream, instantly making him become unfocused even quicker than his time at the hospital. His head swam, his eyes felt heavy and he automatically closed them, and even before he could realise what a stupid idiot he was for doing that, he slipped into the blackness.

* * *

Bloody sedatives. 

He forced his eyes open, forced himself to sit up and in an instant had promptly collapsed again, closing his eyes.

'_The guy who invented sedatives deserves to die.' _he determined bitterly, managing to open heavy eyes to assess his situation again. He was in the TARDIS Infirmary drugged to the eyeballs, with no sonic screwdriver, no hope and no one around to help, susceptible to pains in his head which had the ability to render him unconscious, burns that needed urgent medical attention and a supposed 'mother-in-law' who had recently taken to stabbing him with large needles.

Well, he'd give it 10/10 purely because it was different.

He pulled himself up and slid to the bottom of the bed, trying to get his head together.

"Good mornin'," said a voice from the doorway, and he swung his head around to look at the source. One blurred Jackie Tyler holding a large needle in her right hand. There was no mistaking the message.

"Dun't come near me widdat Jackie," he slurred, stumbling onto unsteady feet and wavering as he stood upright.

"Doctor, I'm doin' this for _you. _It'll just be till after the babies are born, then Rose will stop havin' contractions and you'll stop getting' headaches."

"Is consi'erate Jackie, but…"

She started to walk towards him, squirting the excess fluid out of the needle like one of those mad experimental scientists you see in horror movies. He backed away quickly, smashing accidentally into the worktop, making him fall back onto the wood in sitting position. Several things went smashing to the floor as he struggled as far back as he could against the wall, curling up into a ball as if to shield himself.

"Mum, what the bloody hell are you doin'?" Rose's voice said from across the room, and the Doctor quickly lifted his head, trying to make his vision sharper to check over Rose. "Get away from him!"

Rose rushed over to the Doctor as Jackie obediently backed away, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of his defensive cocoon. He swung his legs over the side of the worktop, now in sitting position; not hesitating to grip her in a gentle hug as his senses slowly started reasserting to normal.

"Well?" Rose demanded as the Doctor and her parted, swinging around to face her mother with an expression of utter contempt. The Doctor was only glad he wasn't on the receiving end of it. "Why are you tryin' to stab him with a needle? He was bloody terrified!"

The Doctor felt insulted. Just a little bit. Him? Terrified? Whatever.

"It's the only way to keep 'im alive Rose…"

"The Doctor can sort it! Can't you Doctor?"

The Doctor paused, glancing between the two women staring fixedly at him. "Should be able to."

"Well do it!" Jackie said as if it was obvious, and he shrugged, turning Rose by her shoulders carefully back to face him.

"You might feel a side effect, just bear with me," he warned, placing two hands on either side of her womb. He opened his mind, at first accessing surface memories and thoughts, before delving deeper into the mystical depths of his mind. Even further, down and down and down, until he could see a small light in the far distance. He could feel himself walking towards the light, no, running…he was running towards it, reaching out a formless arm…

Then he wasn't in his mind anymore.

He suddenly felt innocence, innocence that only a child could have inside their minds. He wanted to share the innocence – it was so warm and inviting, but knew even if he tried to share it, it wouldn't be able to get inside him through his hard skinned body.

"_Hello?" _his voice echoed in the seemingly infinite plain. It wasn't dark, yet it wasn't light. It was just right. The infinite plain of innocent energy went on forever, with no obstacles in place. But then again, he could have one three feet away from him and not even see it.

"_Don't mind me, just looking around," _he continued, walking a bit deeper into the plain.

"_Daddy?"_

He froze in mid-step, swinging around to face the feeling of the voice, walking again.

"_Yes, it's me," _he called back, extending a hand infront of him to try and clear the blurriness and shapeless reality. _"D'you mind redecorating in here sometime? It's kinda hard to navigate. Who did I land in by the way?"_

"_Girl," _it replied shortly, it's vocabulary only picked up from the conversations it had heard outside the womb.

The Doctor paused for a moment, thoughts flashing through his mind rapidly.

"_I know. I'll call you Eva."_

"No you bloody well won't!" came a distant voice, and the Doctor felt a shudder of panic through the landscape.

"_Don't worry, it's just your mother. Which reminds me…"_

He reached up a hand to a mass of nothingness, concentrating entirely on his target. He gripped it mentally in hands, giving it hard squeeze.

Immediately the plain started shaking uncontrollably, and could hear Rose's yells of frustration as he crippled over, with the pain in his head. He let go and the pain suddenly diminished, allow him to straighten up again as the shaking and screaming stopped.

"You did that didn't you?!" a voice screamed, followed by a large 'cracking' sound, and even before the pain hit him the Doctor knew he'd just been slapped.

"_OW!!!"_ he bellowed, holding a hand to his painful cheek as he doubled over again in even more agony.

"Get on with it!"

"_Yeah, sorry…" _the Doctor said, voice dripping with sarcasm. _"Pardon me if the process of accessing the minds of two undeveloped babies inside another person and dragging neuron energy from the depths of a woman's womb to the amniotic sack to the baby into it's head to my head and to my body is a bit of a drag, it'll be done soon."_

He didn't wait for a reply as he took in a deep breath, reaching up for his target again. This time he was extra careful when he handled it, not wanting to get another slap. His cheek was still throbbing from the last one. Genetics Schmetics. He sincerely hoped their daughter wouldn't be able to force that much of a slap, or he'd be permanently sucking up to her.

He concentrated hard, pulling out all the excess energy that was infact his, stuck in it from his sperm. He wouldn't stop feeling the pain, but now it would be easier to handle.

Once he'd finished, he felt a lot more alert and aware of his surroundings. He looked up to the heavens, as if Rose would actually be able to hear him better.

"_Okay, I'm coming back out. Hold on tight."_

He closed his eyes, willing himself to fly back up and out. He felt his feet lift off the floor, as then he was flying. He flew slowly back through the girl's mind until he reached the barrier of light, and then broke through it in a blur of speed. He soared back through the depths of his own and to the surface, willing himself on as he broke the conscious surface.

* * *

**A/N:**_ Chapter 25 – Annihilate The Labour Government!_

_ "What?" she asked, and his eyes went from her face to her womb in a blink, his expression turning to surprise. Slowly he raised a hand to point at her womb. _

_ "Your waters just broke," he said simply. _

_ Rose gaped, looking down at her stomach, to see her maternity dress damp at her navel. _

_ "Oh cripes."_


	24. Ello, 'Ello, 'Ello, Speeding Mate?

**A/N: **Okay, so it's LITTLE late...

* * *

Chapter 24 – 'Ello, 'Ello, 'Ello, Speeding Mate?

The Doctor would have fallen back and smashed his head on the wall if Jackie hadn't already been holding him. He gasped in fresh air; feeling 'released', like he'd just been in prison for twenty years. He blacked out for the smallest of small seconds, before opening his eyes to meet Rose, giving a weak smile.

"Came up too fast," he explained, pulling back out of Jackie's arms to sitting position. "Forgot about the speed limits."

"There're speed limits inside people's minds?" Rose asked, hitting her own head.

"Oh yeah. The speed limit depends on how fast the person's brain works. Say like, mine works at half the speed of light, so that's the limit. I was going the speed of light, and it confused my mind so everything backfired."

"How do you know the brain's speed limit though?"

"Oh, there are sign posts everywhere," he assured her with a charismatic smile.

"So is it done?" Rose asked, picking up his arms and wrapping them around her neck, before she hooked her own around the Doctor's neck.

The Doctor seemed distracted. "Hmmm? Oh…well…yes…hopefully…" he stumbled over his words, and Jackie just rolled her eyes.

Suddenly Rose clutched at her stomach, biting her tongue to stop herself from swearing as a contraction pained inside her. She looked up at the Doctor as the pain died away, and he smiled at her to indicate it had worked.

"There's still something there, but it's so weak it's almost unnoticeable."

"You're a genius." She smiled, leaning forward to kiss a bruised cheek. The Doctor blushed a deep red – well, at least he would have if an inch of his skin wasn't bruised.

"So," Jackie suddenly interrupted the moment and the two turned to face her, the Doctor's arm slipping around Rose's waist. "When's the wedding?"

The Doctor stared at her. Rose stared at the Doctor. Jackie didn't know who to stare at. Technically, if she stared at Rose then they could form some kind of staring triangle – but to be honest, it really didn't matter.

Rose could imagine the ceremony now…her mum would spend three days buying a wedding dress for Rose, and then put the Doctor reluctantly in a tuxedo. She'd 'help' the Doctor buy an amazing star studded ring and Mickey would immediately be donned Best Man.

She'd then spend the whole of the day before the wedding ringing around guests and making checklists, before she sent Rose to bed early before the next day to give the Doctor a lecture on the rules and regulations for marrying her daughter, accepting gifts and the way the whole concept of 'weddings' worked. He'd then answer back, get a slap, and be sent to bed.

The day of the wedding would be a catastrophe. The Doctor would receive a lecture about being on time to the wedding, and he'd still turn up twenty minutes late covered in gloop and absolutely drenched claiming he'd just had to chase the pansdimensional liquid beast from Planet Zargon Five across London to prevent it taking over the world. Mickey would forget the ring; the Vicar would have an anger problem and the pansdimensional liquid beast from Planet Zargon Five would squelch in half an hour late and frighten all the guests away.

And the funny thing was, as Rose would clutch onto the utterly drenched Doctor in the middle of an empty church with her mother in a flying rage and Mickey climbing into the organ tubes to try and find the ring, she'd still be able to say without doubt it was the best day of her life.

The Doctor looked at Rose. Rose looked at the Doctor. As the scenario was shared out in their minds, they both shook their heads in unison.

"Nah."

* * *

The Doctor was in the Infirmary again, with a sleeping Rose buried into his arm, using it as a pillow. He smiled to himself, reaching up his still healing hand to brush some hair out of her face.

"Hello," she suddenly muttered, opening her eyes to look at him.

"Hello," he replied, rubbing her pregnancy bump in a massaging way. "Sorry if I woke you."

"You didn't. Can't be too long now, can it?" Rose asked with a smile, watching him caress her womb.

"One day, to be precise."

"Still need some names," Rose reminded him, and he sighed, rolling his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but Rose quickly cut over the top of him with a loud voice.

"Rory Alexis Sigma-Tyler. And we're not calling the girl Eva. Her name's Jela."

The Doctor sighed, exasperated. "Why can't I name at least _one _of them?"

"Because I don't trust you!"

"You trust me with your life everyday!" he pointed out meekly, and Rose just shrugged.

"'I don't do domestic!'," she imitated him with a grin, and the Doctor started to shake his head in protest.

"Okay, one, my voice isn't that high. Two, these are _my _kids we're talking about here. Three, she's called Eva."

"Jela."

"Eva!"

"Jela!"

"Eva!!!"

"Jela!!!"

"Would you to min' hushing down a lit'le? I can barely 'ear meself think!" said an Irish voice from the doorway.

"Howard!" Rose smiled, sitting up. "Doctor, Howard helped save your life."

"Thanks," the Doctor nodded politely, smiling in gratitude. "I err…hope the bike's okay."

"'Tis fine Doctor! You're a grea' driver."

"Sorry, that was my energy rush before one of my organs collapsed." The Doctor waved a hand as though one of your organs collapsing happened everyday. He suddenly stopped, frowning for a moment as he looked down at Rose.

"What?" she asked, and his eyes went from her face to her womb in a blink, his expression turning to surprise. Slowly he raised a hand to point at her womb.

"Your waters just broke," he said simply.

Rose gaped, looking down at her stomach, to see her maternity dress damp at her navel.

"Oh cripes."

* * *

_Chapter 25 - Annihilate The Labour Government!  
_

_"Can you walk?"_

_"ARRRGGGHHH!"_

_"A no, then…"_


	25. Annihilate The Labour Government!

**A/N: **Guys! You're starting to see this as a serious work. It's not. I _know _the Doctor doesn't drink, but you're starting to point that out. THIS IS NOT SERIOUS! I'm just having fun. Yes. This is my definition of fun.

And BTW, I'm a fourteen-year-old girl who has never actual _been _pregnant, so most of this is collected from those lovely sex education classes and the glorious thing that is TV, so it's not gonna be accurate. Plus I'm over exaggerating it all anyway.

* * *

Chapter 25 – Annihilate The Labour Government!

"Howard, look after Rose, I'll go get Jackie," the Doctor said, before bolting out the door at a speed not even he was aware he could achieve, leaving a shaking Rose and alarmed Howard behind him.

"JACKIE!" he bellowed down the corridor as he ran as best he could, the dull pain coming back through his head to signal a contraction. "MICKEY!"

"Doctor?" shouted a voice from down the corridor. The Doctor skidded to a halt in the open library doorway, well aware he must have looked absolutely terrified. Jackie was sitting on the floor, looking over a few books.

"It's Rose," the Doctor gasped for air, and not because he was out of breath from the running. "She's going into labour!"

"Ah, don't worry, they'll never get in." Jackie smiled, and then the actual meaning of the sentence hit her in the face like a gale force wind. "Oh blimey!"

"You've gotta helped her Jackie, you've gotta help her…" The Doctor was visibly trembling from fear. If Rose died it would all be his fault…

"Don't worry," Jackie said as she sprang up from the floor to her feet, bolting past the Doctor and out into the corridor. The Doctor followed on into the Infirmary shaking like crazy, where he could see Mickey standing over Rose holding her hand as comfort. For once the Doctor was glad he was still here.

Jackie ran over to Rose, checking her over as the Doctor stood in the doorway, his head held in his hands.

"It's okay, it's only just startin'," Jackie said to the crowd as the Doctor lifted his head and jogged over to Rose.

"Rose, are you feeling any other pains?"

"Oh my god, it's hurting so much…" she blurted out suddenly, now looking nothing short of petrified as the Doctor quickly grabbed her arm and held onto it tightly.

"Can you walk?"

"ARRRGGGHHH!"

"A no, then…" The Doctor fought the pain as he slid his weakened arms underneath her to lift her up as she screamed in agony. His injuries cried in protest but he ignored them, only intent on saving Rose. This was definitely going on the list. The 'List Of Things That Made Him Scared Stiff'. And that list wasn't exactly largely populated.

One wrong move and Rose would die. The Doctor would never forgive himself if she died.

Setting her carefully down onto the far bed with the crowd of people in tow, he leant over her, planting a small kiss on her forehead.

"Rose, don't be scared."

"I'm not scared," she said in a disoriented voice, giving him a reassuring smile. "Doctor, are you scared?"

"Terrified," he admitted, before that dull pain through his head started again, and Rose's hand tightened on the Doctors considerably to contain the pain, and then relaxing as it slowly diminished. Looking up at the worried Doctor, Rose reached up a warm hand to his face, tracing a thumb over his lip.

"It'll be a real nice birth, Doctor." She giggled, clearly unfocused. "Reeeeal nice."

He nodded at her, trying to look like he was sure of her words. Although he was running through every single thing that could go wrong right now, he'd never show it.

"My poor Doctor…" She smiled, taking hold of the t-shirt he was now wearing and pulling him a little closer towards her, so her face was only inches from his. "You're all dirty."

The Doctor ran a hand over his unshaven face, before giving a shrug. "When I can leave you alone for more than five minutes I'll have a shave."

"We need to build a Nursery…" Rose suddenly said, letting go of the Doctor's shirt and moving to get off of the bed. "Oh my God, we've got so much to do Doctor! We haven't even got a cot or clothes or toys or…"

"Rose!" the Doctor yelled suddenly, interrupting her hormonally induced worry rant and pushing her gently back down onto the Infirmary bed. "We'll sort everything out later, now we've gotta concentrate on you actually _giving _birth."

"Oh Doctor!" Rose gripped his hand tighter. "What if I'm a terrible mother? What if they hate me?" Rose's eye suddenly widened as she reasoned it out in her mind. "Oh my God, they're going to hate me and runaway and…"

"Rose," the Doctor interrupted her again, climbing onto the bed beside her and holding her in his arms. "You're going to be a brilliant mother."

"You think so?" she asked in a small voice, trying to huddle into the Doctor a little more.

"I know so." He gave her a loving kiss on the forehead. "I'm so sorry I haven't been here with you but I am now, so listen hard. You're going to give birth to these twins smoothly, we'll go shopping and get absolutely everything we can with the money we've got…"

"We're rich," Rose blurted out suddenly. "We've got fifteen grand."

He stared at her in mild confusion. "…What?"

"Y'know that girl you saved Doctor?" Jackie said eagerly, grinning like a maniac. "'Er dad's a millionaire and 'e gave you money for savin' 'er!"

There was a brief pause whilst the Doctor took this information in, and then instantly began to shake his head rapidly.

"We've gotta give it back."

"Doctor, if you even _dare _to think of doing somethin' like that, I swear I'll castrate you with a pair of eyebrow tweezers!"

The Doctor, Mickey and Howard all suddenly felt very vulnerable.

"Try regrowin' _that _through your residual bloody cellular energy!" she finished off, folding her arms in defiance. The Doctor whimpered, moving a little closer to Rose whilst Mickey and Howard discreetly lowered their hands down their fronts. Rose smiled, hugging the Doctor's head to her chest.

"Yes…" he was saying. "Fifteen grand will do."

* * *

The Doctor had been visibly very drowsy ever since he'd woke up, so the fact he fell asleep whilst Rose was in labour came as nothing of a surprise to anyone – although perhaps a little worrying. Mickey and Jackie had moved him from Rose's bed to the bed across the room, so he could sleep without a woman screaming whilst giving birth next to him. 

But, it was still a surprise he hadn't woken up anyway from all the noise.

"That _bastard!"_ Rose was screaming hysterically, hormones on the warpath. "I'll smash his frickin' _head_ in when I see him again! Sleeping at a _bloody _time like this!"

"Darlin', the Doctor's very ill right now, he needs to sleep," said Jackie, reasoning it out with her daughter the best she could without getting her own head bitten off in the process.

"Yeah but the git just _had _to decide to have a nap right when I'm in labour!!! He could've left it till after couldn't he? But NO! He decides he wants one NOW! Go wake him up! I don't care what he says, he deserves it for havin' a snooze!!!"

"But Rose…" Mickey tried to talk with her. "He's really ill…"

"GO AND WAKE HIM UP!" she screamed whilst an extra painful contraction hit her. Jackie and Mickey immediately fled to the Doctor's sleeping form from pure fear, Jackie giving him a firm shake.

"Doctor?" Jackie asked, and he groaned, turning over slightly. "Wake up sweetie."

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY BASTARD!!!" Rose put in from across the room, holding her womb in agony.

"Yeah, what she said." Mickey shook him too. He opened his eyes and looked up at them both, wincing and holding his ribs as he rolled off of his arm.

"Rose is askin' for ya," Jackie said softly, though she couldn't help thinking that maybe it should have been 'yellin' for ya' instead.

"I fell asleep!" he gasped, sitting up as best he could without putting himself in too much distress.

"YOU AND YOUR BLOODY RUBBER DUCK GETTIN' ME PREGNANT!" Rose screamed from across the room, and he could tell from where he lay that she was in quite a lot of pain. Then again, the Eskimos on Antarctica could probably tell she was in quite a lot of pain from how much she was shrieking.

"I'm coming, I'm coming…" he said feebly, using Jackie to haul himself up and onto his feet, before staggering over to Rose. She instantly clamped his hand in vice like grip, crushing his ligaments.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE GIMME AN EPIDURAL!!!" Rose screamed, tightening her grip even more. The Doctor couldn't feel his hand as it suddenly went numb from the pain, for which he was extremely glad of, since it was the hand of the arm that was still trying to recover from a break.

"Err…you can't have an epidural Rose…" the Doctor explained, slightly reluctantly. "It might kill the babies…it's a form of painkiller…"

"Damn you! Damn you and your bloody allergies! Of all the things in the bloody world you have to be bloody allergic to bloody aspirin! Why not _peanuts, _ay? WHY NOT PEANUTS?! I CAN'T KILL PAIN WITH PEANUTS!!!"

"I'm sorry Rose…" the Doctor started, truly completely clueless as to why he was getting blamed for everything.

"AARRRGGHH!!!" she howled, and the Doctor _tried _to block out the cracking sounds from his hand where Rose was gripping so tightly.

"Rose darlin', I think you'd better let go of the Doctor's hand now…" Jackie tried to save him, but to no avail.

"GET THESE DAMNED THINGS OUTTA ME!" she screamed, looking straight at the Doctor. He instantly blushed a nice shade of pink.

"I'm not sure if this is the time to tell you Rose," he started slowly and uneasily. "But I can't actually deliver a baby…"

He winced as he saw her expression, hearing Mickey click the door shut behind him on his way out before Rose blew up.

"YOU CALL YOURSELF A DOCTOR AND YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DELIVER A GODDAMN BABY!?" she hollered deafeningly, trying to take in deep breaths to control the pain.

"Rose! Sweetheart! I can deliver the babies!" Jackie input quickly before the Doctor got hit. "I read up in the library, it's okay!"

The Doctor started breathing again as Jackie stepped forward, taking hold of Rose and the Doctor's joined hands.

"First thing you gotta do is calm down, Rose." Jackie started rubbing her hand over Rose's, obviously trying to ease it off the Doctor's. "Breathe in. Listen to me Rose; breathe, in." Rose did so, whilst Jackie continued to massage Rose's hand to coax it out of it's deathly grip. "Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out."

The Doctor saw more than felt Rose's hand slip off his own, releasing it from it's crush. He quickly cradled it in his other arm, feeling slightly sick at the sight of it's purple complexion. Backing away ever so slightly, he took a side glance at Jackie, mouthing two words at her.

_Thank you._

She nodded with a slight smile, before turning back to Rose, who managed to calm down extremely well, breathing periodically as her mother had told her to.

"Okay, they're comin' Rose. Get ready to push," Jackie said, picking up a few towels as she sped back around to the foot of the Infirmary bed.

"Doctor…" Rose whispered quietly. "Don't leave me."

"I won't Rose. Not this time. I promise."

* * *

**A/N: **_Chapter 26 – Multiple Choice Questions_

I can't give a preview, because I've gotta issue a warning top of next chapter. Not for the faint hearted. Nothing graphic about the birth, promise. I don't write like that._  
_


	26. Not Squeamish…Ish

**A/N: **Okay, so I lied. My plan went totally wrong, as it always does. No dodgy chapter yet. It's the next one. And the name's changed. But I'll probably change it again, because it was kinda of...Wizard Of Oz inspired...

Still, nvm.

This chapter: Comedy. Next chapter: ...Not comedy.

* * *

Chapter 26 – Not Squeamish…Ish

Of course, the Doctor was starting to regret that promise.

He'd seen many strange and wondrous things in all nine-hundred years of his life. All things bright and beautiful. All creatures great and small. All things wise and wonderful. The Lord God made them all. Except, the Lord God hadn't made these babies accidentally one night during a brief but pleasurable sexual confrontation with his beautiful companion whilst drunk on temperamental second-hand spring water.

Stitch that, God.

He was actually sitting in the chair by the bed where Rose lay in pain, utterly paralysed now. He couldn't feel anything. All he could actually think about was Rose…the human…so delicate, fragile. What had he done?

Trouble is, as so nicely put by Jack one night, 'When you get drunk Doc, you generally tend to think with your dick, not your head.'.

Oh how nicely put.

This was the reason _why_ the Doctor found himself sitting next to a screaming Rose in the Infirmary, with Jackie yelling 'push!' every few seconds and the heart rate monitor for Rose going into overdrive.

But he had made his promise. He couldn't leave, despite how nauseous he was beginning to feel. Every few seconds Jackie was giving detailed comments on the baby's progress of being born, and the Doctor really felt it wasn't all that necessary. Okay, comments like 'keep pushing' and 'nearly there' probably _were _essential, but other comments like 'this is gonna be a tight fit' and 'coo blimey, this is messy' could probably be avoided.

Then came those words.

"Doctor, gimme a hand would ya?"

Far be it from the Doctor to be a little squeamish at watching a baby being born, he pulled away from Rose's side to move over to Jackie, but thankfully Rose instantly grabbed his arm again.

"Don't leave me Doctor!" Rose cried, tears of pain and effort pouring down her face, clinging onto his healthy arm in desperation.

"He's not leavin' sweetie, he's gonna help with the baby. Let go of his arm."

The Doctor didn't say anything as Rose laxed her grip on him, and he moved over to Jackie at the foot of the bed.

"Doctor, I need you pull on the…"

He whimpered, blocking out the last few words before looking at the situation infront of him. He whimpered again, instantly looking away.

"C'mon Doctor!" Jackie moaned, pushing him back around with her blood coated gloves to face it again. He immediately squealed like a little girl and pushed her away from him. "It's not like you haven't seen it before!"

"Yeah," the Doctor started, pulling on the gloves Jackie offered him as slow as he could to waste time. "But last time there wasn't a blooming baby coming out of it!"

"For God's sake Doctor, pull yourself together and grab a towel from the side!"

"Okay, okay, yeesh woman!" He dived to the side and picked up a couple of white towels thoughtfully provided by the TARDIS for just the occasion.

"Nearly there Rose, nearly there!" Jackie shouted over the screams. The Doctor _knew _he would have to sped the rest of his life in therapy after this experience. "Just a little more! Little more!"

"Doctor…" Rose was whispered, and in an instant he was by her side. "I'm going to kill you for this…" she muttered weakly, smiling slightly at him.

"After this I'll take you to the most relaxing planet in the Universe," he promised, stroking her hair out of her face as she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. "For as long as you like."

"Mmm, that would be nice…" she said satisfactorily, and closed her eyes as Jackie suddenly gave a whoop of joy.

"Baby boy born 10:45pm 29th November 2006!" she smiled, lifting a small crying baby into view. "Towel please Doctor!" She held out her hand and the Doctor obliged, staring blankly at the baby Jackie was holding in her arms.

"We did it!!!" the Doctor yelled suddenly, breaking out of his shock and jumping up and down as the baby boy was settled into an incubator, where the TARDIS could do her magic. Immediately Jackie started yelling too, cheering and dancing for the born baby boy. The Doctor and Jackie jumped together in a huge hug, both smiling and jumping about.

Then stopped.

"Err…yeah," the Doctor muttered, pulling away from Jackie and going back over to Rose's side, clearing his throat. Jackie did the same, brushing herself down and coughing innocently before returning to the end of the bed.

"Number two coming up," Jackie said. "C'mon Rose do ya stuff sweetheart."

"Err…Jackie…" the Doctor suddenly mumbled, turning to face her while his hand rested on Rose's forehead.

"Not now Doctor…c'mon Rose darling, push!"

"No, Jackie…" the Doctor persisted, but Jackie brushed him off.

"I said not now Doctor! Rose honey, you've gotta push!"

"Jackie!" the Doctor voices was so serious and hard that Jackie instantly looked up at him, seeing a grave face. "Rose has passed out…" he said, moving slightly out the way to let Jackie see her daughter lying unconscious on the bed.

"Oh God…" Jackie whispered, and the Doctor felt his hearts attempting to beat out of his ribs. He cradled Rose in his arms, whispering frantically for her to wake up.

"C'mon Rose…all those things I promised you…all those places I said I'd take you…come back…" he whispered, gently rocking her back and forth.

Suddenly he jerked his head up, looking over at Jackie with slight realisation. "Jackie, it's blood loss isn't it? She's lost a lot of blood."

Jackie glanced over the sheets at the bottom of the bed, before inclining with a nod. The Doctor immediately sprang up from his seat, scrambling over to a nearby table stocked full of medical implements.

"We can't do a caesarean, her outer frame is too hard to cut," he said, ripping open a small packet containing a needle with his teeth. "I've gotta bring her back 'round to push, and the only way to do that is to give her more blood. Now," he continued, fixing a long clear tube to the needle and another needle on the other end. "My body had changed so much with so many blood types it's now an amalgamation of several blood types. I've also evolutionised so much that it has the ability to adapt to the blood in a new situation. So theoretically, I can give Rose blood. It would take an eternity to find the bags of blood in the TARDIS, and we don't have very long."

He slid one of the needles into his arm where a vein could clearly be seen, before sucking on the other end to bring up the blood, groaning slightly as he did so.

"No, Doctor!" Jackie suddenly said, resting a hand on his arm to stop him putting the other end of the tube into Rose's arm. "I can give 'er blood!"

"Jackie, what's your blood type?" he asked casually, watching observantly as she just stood there gawping soundlessly. "Exactly. For all you know Rose could have inherited Pete's blood type, and you could give her blood poisoning. This is the only way Jackie, the only way."

"But Doctor…" she said weakly, not moving her hand off of his arm. "You need your blood, you've lost a lot recently."

"Jackie, if it saves Rose, I don't care," he said seriously, looking down at her hand. "Now, are you going to let go of my arm or not?"

Slowly, Jackie's hand slid off.

"Thank you." He nodded, turning back to Rose to continue his death defying sacrifice of blood. He pierced her vein with the needle in delicate precision, and in an instant his blood was flowing from him to her, and he fell down into the chair to wait for Rose to wake up.


	27. Eva Jela Sigma Tyler

**A/N: **This is the chapter. If you're particulary sensitive and can't watch Titanic on the third time without crying still, feeling kind of vulnerable or you've just watched Doomsday, please stop at the prompt and scroll down to bottom a/n, 'cause even I was thinking of rewriting it because it _seriously_ hurts.

Having second thoughts now...okay, no. Gotta post it. Sorry.

* * *

Chapter 27 – Eva Jela Sigma-Tyler

"Just stay with me Doctor," Jackie held the half conscious Doctor in her arms like he was her own son. It can't have been more than five minutes since he'd started giving Rose blood, but now here he was, weakened and almost lifeless. "Ya can't go sleeping through your daughter's birth can ya?"

"No…" he muttered, and Jackie saw him slip down in the chair a little more as he lost a further strength. She had to do something. Anything.

"C'mon, up ya get," she said, lifting the Doctor's limp body up to standing position next to her, pulling him forward, trying to make him pace the room. The blood tube that connected him and Rose was thankfully relatively long, so he was free to move around the room a little way.

His head dropped weakly onto her shoulder as it lost support, and Jackie knew he couldn't give much more blood. Rose had to wake up soon, or both her and the baby would die, and maybe even the Doctor.

"Doctor, tell me a little about your travels with Rose," she attempted to start a conversation with him – anything to keep him going. "I never get to 'ear much before aliens invade!"

"Wha' d'you wan' ta know?" he slurred, leaning a bit more on Jackie as they walked.

Jackie thought quickly. "Tell me…about the most beautiful place you've been with 'er."

He went even more limp against her. Okay, not working.

"A carn' rememba," he groaned, his words getting more and more merged.

"Sure ya can, Doctor. Everyone can remember the most beautiful place they've been. Even I can remember."

"Tell me."

Jackie stopped for a moment, looking down at the weak Time Lord resting his head on her shoulder.

"It's gonna sound stupid…" she tried to evade it, but he persevered.

"Tell me," he repeated.

She sighed. "Twenty years ago, while I was pregnant with Rose, Pete took me down to Cornwall – to this place called St. Ives. I didn't listen at first, but I finally agreed to go with 'im just to shut 'im up. He took me to a spot on a cliff that overlooked the beach. It was night, and you could see all the lights on in the town behind it, reflectin' off the sand left on the beach where a few people were sittin' on the rocks above the water. It looked amazin'. Probably nothin' compared to your space stuff, but still, it was nice."

She looked down at the Doctor, who now appeared to have completely passed out.

"Oh no, no, no, no…" she muttered, hauling him up a little more. "Come back to me Doctor, you can't leave now…"

"Mum…Doctor…" a voice suddenly said, and Jackie instantly turned them back around to face the waking Rose.

"Welcome back Rose," Jackie said, dragging the limp Doctor and herself back over to foot of the bed. "We've still got one more to come, and you passin' out weren't exactly smart."

"What's happened to the Doctor? Why's he so pale?" she asked, looking at her half-dead Doctor.

"He gave you his blood Rose, and now we've gotta get this baby out as quick and as mess free as we can so he can stop. Ready?" she asked, and the Doctor suddenly opened his eyes and looked at them both, using the bed to get himself upright.

"I'm here Rose…" he took a few deep breaths, his speech suddenly a whole lot clearer. "I promised I wouldn't leave you."

Jackie and Rose both smiled to themselves, before Jackie issued the command.

"Push!"

This time, the Doctor watched as the baby emerged. Maybe the blood had been clogging up his brain or something, _this _was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He was a father. And here right infront of him, he could see his little girl feel the first brush of air to her cheeks, the first gasp of oxygen to her lungs.

The first gasp of oxygen to her lungs…

Wait.

The Doctor suddenly realised with mild horror, that she wasn't breathing.

**_(---STOP IF YOU WANT TO AND SCROLL DOWN TO BOTTOM A/N!---)_**

On fatherly impulse, he dived forward and took hold of the child's tiny head in his hands, screaming at Rose to push whilst he gently pulled. Soon it became apparent what had happened – the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck.

"Rose! Stop pushing!" the Doctor yelled, trying to decide what to do.

"Doctor, hurry it up!" Jackie shouted looking at Rose, who was now unconscious from her blood levels again. Within an instant she'd started bleeding profusely again, and the Doctor could only hear screaming inside his mind.

"Just…gimme a minute!" he shouted back, lifting a hand to try and get the umbilical cord off of the baby's neck, but he would need more slack line to get it off, and to do that he had to get the baby out gently. The baby's face was starting to go blue – he couldn't stall for much longer. "I've gotta pull her out quickly!" he explained, clutching the baby at it's ribs again as he made ready to pull.

Then he realised.

"If you pull on the baby to force it out quickly now it's neck'll break!" Jackie echoed this devastating thought, staring at the Doctor with wide, horrified eyes.

"Rose is bleeding to death!" the Doctor yelled back at her, shaking with fear, rage and pain, the ribs of the baby he was holding suddenly feeling weak and fragile in his hands.

He didn't know what to do. If he pulled, the baby's neck would break, killing it instantly. It was still too young - it wouldn't be able to regenerate. However, if he took a moment to try and ease out the baby gently and slowly and get the umbilical cord out of harm's way, Rose would bleed to death, no doubt.

For once in his life, the Doctor was clueless. With every second that slipped away while he thought about it, Rose was slowly dying. He had to act; quickly.

His eyes looked up to Jackie, who was just staring on in fear. She was going to be no help. He was on his own.

He took a small gasp of air, closed his eyes – and pulled.

The snapping of the baby's delicate neck bone was so quiet, it was almost like the breaking of a thin twig. The Doctor couldn't breathe. Both his hearts were hurting with every beat, aching as he stared at the tiny dead baby girl now lying in his hands – unable to believe what he'd just done.

Despite how pointless it truly was now, he grabbed the second blanket and wrapped it around the lifeless child, desperately trying to keep it's little head up and aligned with the rest of it's body, lying to himself that it's neck wasn't broken. He could fix it – right?

Wrong.

Tears were now pouring down his cheeks from the ultimate sorrow as he sank to his knees, cradling the bundle of blankets containing his motionless daughter tightly.

He'd saved one life, but lost another.

He was, and always had been, nothing but a murderer.

Eyes were on him as he cried shamelessly upon the Infirmary floor, before opening his wet eyes to meet the gaze of the now conscious Rose. He opened his mouth, choking sounds just emitting as he struggled to find the words, still cradling the baby.

"Rose," he managed to whisper, not taking his eyes off of hers. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

* * *

**A/N: **If you've scrolled down, you can be assured that the baby died. I'm sorry. This entire story was influenced by one sentence my friend said to me one day after she told me her three month old sister died. It goes a little something like this: 

"They say people die because they've done something wrong in their life - but what can a three-month-old baby possibly do to deserve to die?"

Yeah. I still remember that.

Take a moment to look at the genres. **Tragedy/Humour.** A lot of you have asked me why it's that, because it's not common. I know. Hopefully you can see why now. It always had to go this way.

Anyway. I'm depressed now. I think you can see that...

Note: St. Ives is a real place in Cornwall in the south-west of England, for those that didn't know. I love that view, I think it's amazing. If you walked up through the carvan park and then err...through the (cough)outofbounds(cough) plain, you can climb around the rocks onto a small platform on the cliff. Just er...don't fall. It's a loooong way.


	28. The Doctor, Full Time Dadda

**A/N:** I THINK the emailing system's down again...though I may be wrong. I haven't been allowed near the net connected computer over Christmas because it's a 'family time', AKA 'the most boring time of the year ever', so I retreated to my room and used the non-net computer to write and write and watch Doctor Who Xmas Special, of course. OMG I LOVED XD

Uhh, anyways, yeah, still here, got in a few chapters...the end is in sight! Yes! This story has an ending!

And sorry. I'm sorry. It had to happen somehow, and I know, as the Doctor knows - once they're dead you can't bring them back. So, unless I decide to write a sequel then she's not going to make a sudden appearance anytime soon. That's kind of way I don't like the ending to The Enermy Within - it was too kind. Didn't reflect reality.

Yes, I am on YouTube under 'reddwarfaddict' too. Zat's me. :P Thanks! And to the capital typing person - breeeeeathe!!! I'm sorry! I did apologise seven times over! And for reference, the Caps Lock key is to the left of your keyboard :)

So that's a _huge _thanks to everyone who reviewed, I would have replied if I had the time to you individually, which I didn't - so I thought I'd just reply here along with the next chapter. I'm debating whether I should post the next one too as an apology, dunno though. It's all debatable.

One final note - James Blunt and Charlotte Church must die...in my books anyway. You might like them. I don't. 'You're beau-' (STAB! STAB! STAB!) 'You're driving me, to insan-' (STAB! STAB! STAB!)

(Breathe)

* * *

Chapter 28 – The Doctor, Full Time Dadda 

_Eyes were on him as he cried shamelessly upon the Infirmary floor, before opening his wet eyes to meet the gaze of the now conscious Rose. He opened his mouth, choking sounds just emitting as he struggled to find the words, still cradling the baby._

"_Rose," he managed to whisper, not taking his eyes off of hers. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

"_Doctor?"_

_Jackie stepped forward hesitantly towards him, slipping her arms under the form of the dead baby girl and lifting her up from the Doctor's arms. He seemed reluctant to her actions, but he didn't have enough energy to struggle as he looked to the TARDIS Infirmary floor, arms hanging limply by his sides._

_Jackie took the child to the second incubator and quietly settled it in, making it as comfortable as possible in the blankets. She then immediately proceeded to turn back towards the Doctor, who was still kneeling on the floor with silent tears falling down his face, and she put her arms around his shoulders in a supportive hug._

"_C'mon, let it all out Doctor," she said quietly as he just cried into her, shaking all over._

"_Doctor…" Rose suddenly whispered tearfully, the light padding of bare feet on the lino floor coming from the left of Jackie._

_Normally Jackie would have told her to get back to bed and rest, but now she simply just dropped her left arm, and Rose moved in to kneel next to the Doctor, kissing him on the head._

"_Rose…" he said quietly, sounding muffled from both crying and the fact that right at that moment his head was buried into Jackie's shoulder. "I'm sorry…I failed…I failed…"_

"_You failed nothing, Doctor," she whispered back, tears she couldn't even feel rushing down her face. She shuffled in closer and slipped both arms around his neck. "You promised only to stay with me. You never promised anything else. You stayed. You win."_

_He lifted his head from Jackie's shoulder and looked up at her tear-streaked face, unable to control his own tears as they slipped soundlessly down his cheeks. He opened his mouth to say something, but she quickly put a finger on his lips._

"_I love you Doctor, and I always will. So I'M going to be the one that promises now." She swallowed, looking directly into those two brown eyes that contained so many emotions. She took a breath as opened her mouth again, making each of her words as she spoke as serious and meaningful as the previous. "I will never leave you."_

_He didn't look away. He simply opened his mouth and he whispered five words back to her for the first time in his life._

"_I love you Rose Tyler." _

_Then he collapsed into her arms._

* * *

_'_All men are the same, wherever you go in the Universe.'

That's a scientific fact, you know.

But Rose had travelled with the Doctor for over a year now, and she admitted that she could seriously see the major similarities between Earth males and alien males. Wherever the Doctor took Rose she'd see male aliens yelling, gambling, drinking, kissing, flirting…but the Doctor, however wild he might be, did not go around the Universe yelling, gambling, drinking, kissing and flirting.

At least, not that much yelling; minimum of gambling was bets on Victorian catchphrases; and okay, so drinking was a bit of a dodgy subject, but she couldn't remember him ever drinking alcohol before then - except the odd sip of lager here and there to look good against Jack; kissing had been rare, at least, until he found out she was carrying his baby then it had come with the fatherhood…and he didn't exact need to flirt. He seemed to have a strange aura about him that was apparently made of Love Potion Number Nine.

My Doctor is strong. She told herself. My Doctor will never give up. My Doctor knows what he did was right. My Doctor believes in himself. My Doctor will not hate his decision. My Doctor will move on. My Doctor won't ever cry again. My Doctor will be strong for this child.

My Doctor will love this baby boy.

So she waited by his side.

Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Years. It didn't matter. Rose had promised to stay with him, like he had promised to stay with her. So that was exactly what she intended to do.

So luckily for her, it was just for the night.

In her arms she cradled the tiny baby boy the Doctor and her mum had worked so hard to get, he was sleeping peacefully in the blankets as she rocked him to and fro, sitting infront of the unconscious father. He'd risked so much, he'd risked himself so that she would live for the second time.

It was bloody obvious he loved her, and to think that just a few days ago she'd been debating whether he actually liked her or not.

How could she have been so blind?

She looked back down at the sleeping baby in her arms, rocking him gently as she hummed a song. She had no idea where it had come from. She couldn't remember it from her childhood or the excessive watching of children's programmes from the long, long, long days on the TARDIS with the Doctor and the building blocks.

She lifted up the sleeping boy and set him in the crook of his father's arm, the movement alone waking the baby up. He immediately started crying and Rose hushed him – truly wondering now how to handle a crying baby boy. Motherly intuition overtook these feelings, and she began to soothe the boy as best she could. He hadn't yet opened his eyes – she hoped that was natural.

The crying however, seemed to trigger something in the Doctor. He opened his eyes for just a few seconds, blinked, and then they stayed open.

Rose could only grin.

"Doctor!" she cried, leaning forward towards him. He slowly turned his head, looking at her directly, pain and tiredness prominent in his eyes. He then slowly looked down to the crying baby in his arm, pausing for a few seconds before lifting up his other arm with the blood IV attached, and stroking the baby's head.

"Shush," he whispered, "it's okay. Daddy's here."

The child immediately began to quieten, burbling and giggling as he went back to a sleep-like state. The Doctor looked up at Rose, giving a small smile to her.

"I think I'm a natural," he joked, and Rose beamed, grabbing him into a tight hug around the neck and kissing him hard on the lips.

"God I love you!" she growled, running her hands over his face to inspect him, feeling the fast fading cuts and bruises, the oxygen tube running over his cheek and into his nose, as well as a large amount of stubble. "Doctor! You're gonna have a beard by tomorrow!"

He smiled again as she pulled away, grinning manically. She would be strong – for him.

"Rose, it's okay if you want to call him Rory," the Doctor suddenly said, looking down at the boy.

She smiled gratefully at him. "It's okay if you want her to be called Eva. Much better than Jela, anyway."

He looked up at Rose, his smile seemingly fading a little at the painful memories that lingered, but he quickly reasserted it again.

"Sounds great." He looked back down at Rory, still lying in his arms, then noticed something. "Rose…look…"

Rose looked down to where he was looking, and saw Rory 'googoo' and 'gaga'-ing, squeaking and laughing with his eyes firmly open.

"Err…Doctor?"

"Hmm?" he asked mildly, tickling Rory's chin, and he started gurgling again.

"Err, is it just me – or are his eyes yellow?"

The Doctor paused for a moment, looking at the baby boy thoughtfully into his eyes.

"Hmm, now that you mention it, there is a slight colour tinge of yellowy-goldish…"

"Doctor, his eyes are as yellow as a member of the Simpson's family."

"Well," the Doctor considered, scratching behind his ear in contemplation. "I'd say they were more goldy colour…"

"Mum is gonna freak."

The Doctor slowly nodded in agreement, looking slightly sheepish. He then looked up at her wild a look of mild horror on his face as he realised what this meant.

"Your mum's gonna slap me, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is," someone agreed from the doorway. Rose and the Doctor both looked up as Mickey Smith entered, his trusty laptop held in his hands. "Rose," he immediately began, walking over to them and sitting down on the end of the Doctor's bed. "I can't hack into the police database to change your photos…"

"Gimme." The Doctor held out his hands and Mickey obediently gave him the laptop. The Doctor looked down at Rory, who was staring up at him, and the Doctor pointed to the screen. "Look Rory, your daddy's going to teach you how to hack into police computer databases.

"Dadda!" Rory suddenly cried, not moving his eyes off of his father. "Dadda! Dadda Doctor!"

"Eh?" Rose looked down at her newborn son in confusement. "You…you're not supposed to be able to speak yet!"

The Doctor just grinned. "There's my Time Lord son."

"Superbaby mini-Doctor, right?" Rose asked, and the Doctor nodded.

"Mama!" Rory came out with next, looking towards Rose. She nodded, leaning forward and giving Rory a kiss to praise him.

"Can you say, 'Mickey'?" Mickey asked the boy encouragingly. Rory went quiet. "Say 'Mickey'?"

"Ricky!" Rory came out with, and Rose lapsed into helpless giggles.

"No, 'Mickey'!"

"Ricky!"

Mickey just sighed quietly to himself, ignoring the song Rory seemed have made with the word 'Ricky'.

"Just like his father…" Mickey groaned, head falling defeatedly into his hands. Rose nodded, taking up Rory into her arms and kissing him on the forehead.

"Good boy Rory!" she praised the child, rubbing noses with him. He just started giggling and burbling again. "When your daddy's feeling better, well go buy you loads of toys, that sound good?"

He giggled in reply.

"Got it!" the Doctor suddenly yelled in declaration, tapping at the keyboard laptop. "Okay Rose, pick one person on Earth you'd love to have shot."

"James Blunt!" she immediately cried, and the Doctor nodded.

"James Blunt it is. He's an alien y'know," the Doctor added as he typed 'james blunt' into Google Images. "Ah…this one'll do…" He right-clicked on the first picture, copied, switched the window and pasted into some kind of ID. "James Blunt is now going to be arrested, by courtesy of Howard O'Hanon. Better change the name."

"Eric Blair?" Rose suggested, and the Doctor nodded, tapping a few keys here and there.

"Okay, Howard's done! Pick a girl?"

Rose paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Charlotte Church."

"Charlotte Church it is." Click. Type. Click. Click. Click. Click. "Name?"

"Ellen…umm…Langley."

"Rose, you're done. Now…I don't think we'll have to worry about me too much. Jack would have hacked into the archive."

"I hope you're right," Rose muttered as the Doctor handed the laptop back to Mickey.

"He's not as dumb as he looks."

"Doctor?" Jackie suddenly appeared in the doorway of the Infirmary, and started towards them. "You alright sweetheart?"

"Yeah," the Doctor answered with a nod, putting on a weak smile, before looking to the blankets with a sniff. She sat on the bed next to him, letting him slide down and fall onto her, his head going into the shoulder that had seemed to have become his second home.

"Thanks Jackie," he said quietly.

"It's okay. What a grandma's for."

"Mum," Rose started as the Doctor and her mother parted. "Can you…can you arrange a funeral?"

"Sure thing darlin'," she nodded.

"Eva," suddenly came that small boy's voice, once full of happiness and joy – now small and sad. "Eva."

"Yeah, that's right," the Doctor whispered to the child with a sigh, taking him as he was offered by Rose. "Eva."

"Rory love dadda," Rory went on. "Doctor dadda."

The Doctor held his son tight as the child slipped a small hand out of the blankets and encased the Doctor's finger.

He was so tiny.

"I love you too," the Doctor said, kissing Rory's forehead. "I love you too."

* * *

_**A/N: **__Chapter 29 - Genetically Engineered Parrots  
_

___ Mickey Smith wasn't a jealous guy. If anyone had ever had a concrete reason to be jealous, Mickey Smith would get the gold outright. But he wasn't. _

___ He could tell Rose and the Doctor had been made for each other. That somewhere, up there in the heavens, God was playing a little game of Matchmaker – and the Doctor and Rose were 100 percent compatibility. _

___ But, as I said. Mickey Smith wasn't a jealous guy. _

___ Much._


	29. Genetically Enigeered Parrots

**A/N:** SORT OUT YOUR BLOODY EMAIL SYSTEM! (Cough) (Ahem) Yeah...

* * *

Chapter 29 – Genetically Engineered Parrots

"I swear your kid's part parrot," Mickey said to the Doctor with a disbelieving shake of the head a couple of days later, watching the Doctor as sat on the end of the bed, Rose carefully styling his hair since the Doctor only had one hand to work with. "It's like, everythin' I say he repeats…"

"Okay," the Doctor slowly raised his functioning hand, feigning surrender. "You got me. I'm actually a parrot genetically modified in a lab to look like a human – trained to infiltrate the defences of Solar Systems and imprint on people's speech. Therefore, my offspring has inherited these traits and has made it extremely good at repeating everything that anyone ever says."

"…Really?"

The Doctor sighed. "Alternatively," he carried on. "I could be part of an alien superace from outer space and my child has inherited the genetic ability I have to make sense out of nothing and understand things a lot quicker. Tell me Mickey, did you know they've taken the word 'gullible' out of the dictionary?"

The Doctor left Mickey to mull over this new problem, looking up as Rose took another dollop of hair gel and rubbed it into his hair massagingly.

"You having fun with that gel Rose?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood as best he could without destroying his own emotional barrier he had managed to shield himself with since he woke up. He'd never been to a proper Earth human funeral before. He wondered vaguely what it was like. Was it like a wedding, except everyone wore black and felt depressed?

Whatever it was, it seemed to have Rose on the edge.

"Oh, sorry…" she muttered in a shaky voice, accidentally dropping the tub of gel she had been trying to screw the lid on of in a fluster, murmuring apologies as she quickly bent down to retrieve it.

"Oh Rose…" the Doctor sighed, offering a hand up to her as she looked up from her crouch position. She took it, pulling him up onto his feet too, smoothing down the creases in his charcoal black suit and straightening the equally as black tie.

"Are you sure you wanna go through with this, Doctor?" she asked, running a hand down his now clean-shaven jaw. "I mean, I know a lot has happened and it's fine if you don't feel comfortable with it…I mean…we could always do it another time…"

"I'm fine Rose," he interrupted weakly, putting his hand on her hand that was still resting on his cheek. "Calm down."

"I _am _calm," she insisted, but the Doctor could see tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm calm…totally calm…"

The Doctor just let her fall forward onto him in a fragile hug – letting her try and control the tears for herself. Sometimes, words of comfort can just be like razor blades.

"You all ready?" Jackie unexpectedly asked from the doorway, and Rose lifted her head from the Doctor, nodding as her hand slipped down into the Doctor's own warm one and squeezed, as if to say, 'we'll be together through this.'

* * *

Typically, it was raining.

The five stood in sorrowful silence as the priest spoke softly and gently from a book as they stood in the graveyard, circled around the coffin and huddling into one another for warmth. The Doctor had specifically asked if it could be kept strictly in the small friend circle, namely him, Rose, Mickey, Jackie and Howard, a request to which Jackie had willingly obliged to.

"Eva was a special girl, in the manner that she had only felt the innocence, the innocence of an awesomely young child. She was not able to see the perilous horrors that cloud this world, a feeling which some of us may crave."

The Doctor felt Rose shudder slightly from the cold as she stood next to him, and he slipped off his brown overcoat, proceeding to rest it delicately around her shoulders before he took her close to his chest. She pressed her ear to his ribs as the priest continued to talk, the melody of his two hearts never seeming so beautiful and musical.

"We can only imagine her in our dreams, imagine her thoughts, feelings, emotions. What would she have been like if we had known her a little longer? What would she have wanted? Would she have the intelligence of her father? His charm? Her mother's beauty? Her bravery? We can only guess – but as I can see her now, I know she is all of these."

On those words, Jackie looked over the coffin to the Doctor and Rose, and she let her first tear for this child slip quietly down her cheek. The Doctor and Rose had lost so much. But they had gained a baby boy. Rory Alexis Sigma-Tyler. The child that now lay quiet and sleeping in Jackie's arms. The boy with the golden eyes.

She looked down at the boy, surprised to find he was no longer asleep. His eyes were quite wide, quite awake, and to her ultimate surprise - quite, quite brown.

"We will never know the world of Eva Jela Sigma-Tyler, but I think we can already envision it. Her mother and brother have both come through this ordeal, breathing because of the bravery of one little girl. Eva, as it is known in it's translation – 'Giver of life'."

Mickey Smith wasn't a jealous guy. If anyone had ever had a concrete reason to be jealous, Mickey Smith would get the gold outright. But he wasn't.

He could _tell _Rose and the Doctor had been made for each other. That somewhere, up there in the heavens, God was playing a little game of Matchmaker – and the Doctor and Rose were 100 percent compatibility.

But, as I said. Mickey Smith wasn't a jealous guy.

Much.

He knew they had to be together. Frankly, he wouldn't be surprised if somewhere in the Universe there was a written prophecy that bound them together for eternity. Would be a bit of a bummer, true, but the last thing he'd be was surprised.

Because they were like Adam and Eve; and Mickey Smith was just a snake tempting Rose away.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…" the priest continued, and the Doctor held Rose a little tighter to his chest, resting his cheek on her hair. He just wanted this to end. He didn't want Rose to cry anymore. He wanted her to be able to forget…

He lifted his head and looked around to block out the priest's words, seeing Jackie, who seemed to be looking down at Rory. Mickey was just standing staring at the floor, and Howard was looking at the priests, his hands clutched together infront of him. Like a proper funeral scene.

When the service ended, the Doctor asked for once last moment with Eva before he left the graveyard, for which the others abided to and filed quietly away. Only Rose remained, offering moral support as he knelt down next to the grave in which the coffin had been lowered into.

"You must hate me," the Doctor suddenly said out loud. "A mother shouldn't have to see this. It isn't right."

Rose sniffed away some tears, crouching down next to him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Doctor, we've already been through this. I love you now, and I will love you always. So, like it or not, you're stuck with me." She gently turned his head towards her, smiling as he looked at her with those puppy dog eyes.

"I want us to be able forget it…" the Doctor explained, looking back to the grave. "I want to start again, fresh."

"I will if you will." She smiled, and the Doctor nodded at her, giving a small smile.

"We never come back to this grave. Ever. This is it."

"Agreed." She nodded. "That's a pact." She held out her hand and extended her little finger to him, and he just stared at it, slightly bemused.

"Err…what?"

"Shake it!" she insisted, waving the little finger about madly. He seemed puzzled, but all the same, took her little finger with his entire hand, shaking it. "No, no, no…" She rolled her eyes, taking his right hand and making it into a fist, bringing out his little finger and slipping it into her own, shaking it.

The Doctor just looked closely at the little fingers, before shaking his head in amusement.

"And this is?"

"It's a friendship pact thing. It means we are sworn by the finger shake to the promise."

"Y'know, where I come from, you do this…" The Doctor let go of her finger and snorted back some phlegm, spitting it onto his hand before extending it to Rose. She just stared at him in disgust.

"And this is where I leave…" she laughed, jumping onto her feet and starting brusquely off down the gravel path, leaving the Doctor behind.

"Oi!" he yelled, jogging down the path after her, wiping his hand on the grass as he sped off.

They got back to the waiting party together, hand in hand, giving them a thank you nod. Together the five started walking back to the TARDIS in silence, all just about ready to collapse into bed and fall into an eight year coma.

"Doctor," Jackie started, and he looked up, only to receive Rory in his arms. "Notice anything…different about Rory?"

"He's shut up…" Mickey observed.

"Ricky!" Rory suddenly said on cue, as if he was trying to prove Mickey wrong. Mickey just sighed again and dropped back to Rose who was smiling slightly, taking her hand since the Doctor could no longer do so.

The Doctor watched his son carefully as he opened his eyes and looked up at him, immediately giggling and slipping out a hand to hold the Doctor's thumb.

"Dadda," he said to the Doctor, who was just staring on in confusement.

"His eyes are brown…" the Doctor announced to the waiting Rose, who immediately launched into 'mother hen' mode that all mothers have in some form or another.

"Brown?! Why aren't they gold Doctor?! Is he ill?!" she quickly took Rory into her own arms and began to examine the giggling child over quickly.

"I don't know Rose…" he admitted, tapping his chin thoughtfully in worry. "Maybe it was some sort of excess residual cellular energy…" he reasoned out with himself. "Yeah, that's it. He's fine. No worries."

The Doctor looked over at Jackie, looking for her reaction to the obvious worry that had passed through the parents. She'd only slightly went ka-ka when she'd discovered his given eyes, but the Doctor had not received any type of physical injury for it. Probably because he was in no fit state to be hit.

Although, saying that, most of his injuries were healing nicely now, thanks to the TARDIS. He no longer walked with a limp; his previously broken right arm could now take light weights; he could also withstand a tight hug from Rose and could even write the first ten letters of the alphabet in Gallifreyan.

Most of the bruising and cuts had faded, bar a few nasty bruises still on his weakened ribs which Rose took care to avoid as much as she could. Same with the cuts – none continued to bleed, but there were still a few stitched ones that just needed a little more time.

They could see the TARDIS across the road now, waiting still and quiet in the Powell Estate for her owner to return. The Doctor held his son in his stronger left arm as he took Rose's hand with his right, leaning forward and nuzzling into her neck to grab her attention. She turned and let the Doctor slip his arm around her waist, before she took Rory from his other arm and held him between them whilst she cuddled up to the Doctor.

And then the Doctor felt a rush of wind behind him.

Instantly, he knew the Darkeese were back.

* * *

**A/N:** _Chapter 30 - (I'd be lying if I said I'd actually named or fully written it...)_

_ "Mum, what the hell is goin' on?" Rose asked fearfully as the five tumbled into the TARDIS, the door slamming automatically shut behind them. _

_ "I don't know darlin', but when the Doctor tells you to run, you run," her mother reasoned out with her, and Rose nodded, swallowing ever so slightly as she stared at the closed doors barring her from him._


	30. The Big Bad Wolf…Grrr!

**A/N: **Geez, don't apologise for reviewing:P I love reviews. They make me want to write faster :)

And originally I didn't want this to come in two chapters, but I'm afraid it has, so, sorry.

* * *

Chapter 30 – The Big Bad Wolf…Grrr!

The Doctor swung around in undivided alarm, letting go of Rose's hand to face the direction in which the wind had come from. There was nothing there.

But he could sense it.

"Doctor?" Rose called out, the entire group stopping and turning to watch him. His hands tightened into fists and he spoke in a low, sincere voice.

"Run back to the TARDIS."

His voice was so serious and deep that Rose almost began to feel terrified, despite the fact she couldn't actually see a physical threat. For a moment she stood still from a combination of fear, dread and confusement, and then Jackie took her firmly by the arm and started marching her hurriedly towards the TARDIS double doors.

"Run!" the Doctor yelled louder, and the two with Rose still clutching Rory, started jogging towards the blue box on the edge of the estate, Mickey and Howard not far behind.

"Mum, what the hell is goin' on?" Rose asked fearfully as the five tumbled into the TARDIS, the door slamming automatically shut behind them.

"I don't know darlin', but when the Doctor tells you to run, you run," her mother reasoned out with her, and Rose nodded, swallowing ever so slightly as she stared at the closed doors barring her from him.

* * *

The Doctor was slowly backing towards the TARDIS, his head twisting and turning, searching for the hidden Darkeese. 

"Come out!" the Doctor yelled into the clearing, arms outstretched as he addressed apparently no one. "Who's your master? Who sent you?"

Nothing appeared.

"I know you're here! Only a coward attacks from the darkness! Show yourself!"

Suddenly on his command, something big and black fizzled into existence just infront him, big black eyes searching him over, as if weighing him up.

"Who sent you?" the Doctor tried again, but the Darkeese just stared at him – an ominous big form of blackness not moving it's eyes. It's a scary thing.

"Who's paying your corporation to do this job?" the Doctor said directly to it, now getting slightly impatient. "Answer me!"

"Look, mate," the Darkeese suddenly said, sounding extremely like Delboy out of Only Fools and Horses. "I don't get a bloomin' information pack on them; I just do my job, do it quick and get the green at the end of the month. But due to difficult and unforeseen circumstances – that's _you, _by the way, you _killed _the guy who was on this job previously – I am overdue on this job, and now don't get my bonus. So now I start gettin' money subtracted from this months pay if I go over a week, when it's supposed to be a one day job. Y'see my problem? So, what would be really nice is if ya let me through to that nice…telephone box of yours, and let me take the kid."

The Doctor frowned suddenly, scratching the back of his head in confusion. "Wait…you're not trying to kill him?"

"Blimey, no!" the Darkeese declared, looking almost positively horrified. "If I get so much as a scratch on him I'll be executed!"

"Then what was all that bus crash stuff about then?"

It was the Darkeese's turn to look confused. "…Bus crash stuff?"

The Doctor waved his hand vaguely to demonstrate. "Yeah, y'know, crash, bang, fire, screaming, dying Doctor?"

"…Has someone been tryin' to kill ya?"

"How the hell did you think I got so trashed?" the Doctor said, slipping out his casted arm and waving it about, as if to reinforce his point.

"Well, that wasn't me. Though…you can get a little mixed up in this line of work. Did the girl get hurt whilst pregnant during this?"

"Couple of deep cuts."

"Nope then, definitely wasn't me, sorry. I think someone has a grudge on you, to be honest," it tilted it's head and looked sideward at the Doctor, expression sympathetic. "Two dark forces comin' after ya? That's bad luck."

"Isn't it just," the Doctor said flippantly, before scratching the back of his ear - trying to figure it all out. "So…if you're trying to steal my son and I'm stopping you, what does that make me?"

"A bloody nuisance, that's what." The Darkeese stepped forward a little, extending a formless hand towards the Doctor's throat. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to kill ya if you insist on getting in my way."

"Wait, wait, wait," the Doctor suddenly interrupted, holding up a surrendering hand. "Stop. Hold it just a sec, can I ask one more question?"

The Darkeese sighed patiently, dropping it's arm to it's side. "What is it _now?" _it asked tiredly.

"Just answer me this – who paid your corporation to do the job? It's all I need to know. Just a name or a description or something. An address would be rather handy." The Doctor shrugged. "Though y'know, whatever, I can go with anything."

The Darkeese paused, tapping it's chin in mild thought. "They didn't leave a name, I didn't see them and they gave no address. All they left was an alias."

"Which was?"

"…Bad Wolf."

* * *

"I can't bear this," Rose muttered, trying to console her baby son as he cried his eyes out, holding him close to her. "I need to see he's alright. Just a peek." 

Jackie tried to comfort her as best she could, sitting next to her on the Captain's double seat. "I'm sure he's fine Rose. If he can survive after everythin' that's happened to him in the past week or so, he can survive this."

Rose sighed, hushing reassurances to Rory whilst he kept crying with his eyes closed. The four sat in tense silence for over thirty seconds bar Rory, who was still crying his eyes out, before Rose finally could wait no longer and stood up. She handed Rory to her mother carefully, ignoring her protests and walked unwaveringly towards the TARDIS doors, pulling one open slightly and peeking through.

There she saw the Doctor and a Darkeese staring at one another, the Doctor looking absolutely mortified.

"No…" Rose heard him say as he slowly started backing away from the Darkeese towards her. "Tell me you're lying…"

The Darkeese made up the Doctor's back steps with forward ones of his own, extending an arm towards the Doctor's throat.

The Doctor suddenly swung around towards Rose, and ran.

"Stop!" the Darkeese bellowed, launching out with a clawed hand to try and stop him from running. They caught the Doctor on the back and he cried out in pain and stumbled in surprise, falling to the concrete ground.

Rose could only watch with her breath caught in her throat as the Doctor regained some slight strength and started trying to haul himself to his feet, but the Darkeese was quick to grab him around the neck and prevent him from moving any further.

"Surrender the child to me, and I'll let you and your friends walk away unscathed! Well, err, maybe now just your friends have the 'unscathed' part," the Darkeese muttered guiltily. "But still, sorry about that – was an accident."

"You're not getting him," the Doctor rasped, struggling to breathe. "I'll never give him over."

The Darkeese sighed dejectedly, lifting the Doctor off of the ground and in midair by it's grip around his neck, getting ready to throw him onto the ground.

"You do realise Doctor, that I'm just gonna keep hittin' you 'til you tell me?"

"Yeah," the Doctor breathed. "Pretty much."

The Darkeese rolled it's black eyes with a sigh, before casually tossing the Doctor a few metres across the road where he hit the ground with a thud. For a moment he squirmed on the ground in pain before he tried to desperately crawl onto his stomach back towards the TARDIS, only to be stopped by the Darkeese again.

Rose couldn't put up with this for much longer.

She turned quickly back into the TARDIS, her mind racing with the problem of where exactly the Sonic Screwdriver was at that precise moment in time. She ran through it's journey in her head.

First she had taken it from the Doctor's coat when she went to retrieve their clothes during their hangover; she had then given it to the Doctor to fight the Darkeese; then the hospital had given it to her in a brown paper bag which she had given to Howard to untie the Doctor…and then Howard gave the Doctor his coat, and had taken it back when the Doctor got back to the flat.

So, Howard had the Sonic Screwdriver.

"Howard!" Rose dived forward towards him, hands immediately plunging into his pockets and searching rapidly for the sonic device. "Sonic Screwdriver!"

"I put it back in the Doctor's coat!"

Rose instantly let go of Howard and for a moment in her rush, totally forgot she was wearing the Doctor's trenchcoat. When she realised it was actually on her, she dived into his pockets and began to search.

The pockets seemed to be bottomless as she drew out various types of fruit, a few cuddlytoys, hankies, combs and cans of drink. She knew they were so big that she wouldn't be able to find a rhino in either of them, even if she tried. She had to take the coat to the Doctor.

But that wouldn't be enough of a diversion. She needed a plan.

She mentally beat her brain, trying to find a solution to the dilemma. If only she had a brain that worked half the speed of light like the Doctor's…

Then it came to her.

"Of course!" she suddenly cried, making everyone who was staring at her jump in surprise as she tore over to where Rory was in her mother's arms, picking him up.

* * *

**A/N: **_Chapter 31 - Eh-oh! Po!  
_

_"I'll give you the baby, just don't kill the Doctor!" she shouted back, and at these words the Doctor's brain buzzed into overload, his muscles instantly tensing in total panic and his hearts began to ache. He tried to shout out to her, but the Darkeese's grip on his throat was only just about letting him breathe, let alone shout._


	31. Eh oh! Po!

**A/N: **Guys! Relax! David isn't leaving the show. I can't access the site at the mo, but the BBC have confirmed he's not leaving ages ago. This whole thing was stirred up by the Sun - and who believed what the Sun_ EVER _had to say anyway? He's not leaving. I read somewhere too that he's signed an X million deal for Series 4 if it's commissioned. So, RELAX!

* * *

Chapter 31 – Eh-oh! Po!

The Doctor wouldn't break. Wouldn't let go.

He would protect his son to the death. Even if it was a very messy and complicated death – still, the death – then he would regenerate, making it the death of the death. Then after that, the death of the death of the death. Then the death of the death of the death of the death. Then he truly would be dead.

It all made his head hurt. Either that or the repeated hits he seemed to be receiving to the head.

He felt his throat get taken hold of again and his limp body dragged upwards, but he was past caring. Was it time for the first death, yet?

It was a pathetic thought really – seeing as he now believed he was dying when just a week ago he'd been medically deceased from taking something he was deathly allergic to. And now he was going to die from a couple of scratches and a headache. That was like surviving an organ transplant and dying from a cold a few days later.

"Darkeese!" someone suddenly yelled from afar, and the Doctor groaned outwardly as he realised it was Rose. She was going to get herself killed…

But the Darkeese wasn't an idiot.

"What do you want?" it shouted over to her, not taking it's big black eyes off of the Doctor, who by now was just letting the Darkeese beat him senseless.

"I'll give you the baby, just don't kill the Doctor!" she shouted back, and at these words the Doctor's brain buzzed into overload, his muscles instantly tensing in total panic and his hearts began to ache. He tried to shout out to her, but the Darkeese's grip on his throat was only just about letting him breathe, let alone shout.

The Darkeese glanced over to somewhere on the Doctor's right, pausing for a moment as he considered what he was seeing. Obviously interested, he let go of the Doctor like a ragdoll who fell to the wet floor uselessly, his head hurting too much to move any of his limbs. He weakly turned his head to look at Rose, and she did appear to have Rory in her arms with tears apparent in her eyes, though maybe he was mistaking it for the rain that was pouring down on them…?

"Please, let his father see him first before you take him…" she whispered, and the Doctor could see now that they were 100 percent real tears. "Please…"

The Darkeese looked sympathetic, shuffling guiltily over on one foot, hands clasped behind it's back.

"Yeah," it said sadly, "take as long as you need. Sorry I have to take him and all. A job's a job."

Rose didn't reply. She just jogged hurriedly over to the Doctor, kneeling on the side hidden from the Darkeese. She laid the bundle of blankets on the ground, but the Doctor was just looking at her in despair.

"Rose…I'm not worth it…" he tried to say, but she quickly shrugged off his trenchcoat that she was still wearing, covering him over with it. One, for him to access, but also two, keeping him shielded from the rain - and she turned him gently onto his side towards her as she did so.

"Look," she hissed, pulling the blankets back to reveal what was inside.

It wasn't Rory, that was for sure.

"I found it in one of your pockets," Rose explained in a whisper as he brought a hand out from under his coat and the Doctor stroked the soft material of the toy replica of Po – the red one from the Teletubbies - lying comfortably in the blankets. "I won't ask what it was doing there."

"Rose," he muttered, reaching up to caress her cheek. "You're a genius."

"I know." She hid her smile with a fake cry of sorrow, covering up Po's obvious Teletubbiness by drawing the blankets closer around again. "I couldn't find the Sonic Screwdriver…" The Doctor nodded at her words, discreetly slipping a hand into the pocket out of the view of the Darkeese and searching. "Oh God, I'm so sorry Doctor, I couldn't let you die…" she suddenly said out loud, holding Po to her chest, letting the fake tears fall thick and fast down her cheeks.

"Please, take him now…" the Doctor said in loud weak voice.

"Please don't hate me Doctor," she said in a sorrowful voice, "I couldn't watch you die like this."

"I will always love you Rose," he whispered loud enough for the Darkeese to hear. "Please, now…go…"

She leant down and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, making the most of it like any normal person would, before she had to draw away and get onto her feet, still clutching Po in her arms. She lifted the bundle of blankets upwards, offering Po to the Darkeese, before looking sideways with tears rushing down her cheeks as she brushed her hair away from her head.

"Take him now!" she cried in a melodramatic voice, "before my heart breaks!"

The Darkeese slipped it's arms under the bundle of blankets, gently lifting Po up and away from Rose.

"I'm real sorry 'bout this," it apologised humbly; looking in the blankets at the baby he was expecting to see.

Then he gawped.

"There's a big red cuddlytoy in here!" the Darkeese realised, staring at Rose in surprise. "Where did the bloody baby go?"

Rose just grinned, gesturing for the Darkeese to look down at the Doctor on the ground. It was immediately met by a slim silver device in the Doctor's hand good hand, pointing straight at it's chest with a small look of regret on his face.

"I don't want to do this," the Doctor started firmly as Rose slipped her hands onto his hips and helped him up onto his feet subliminally, trying to make it look like she was actually holding him for protection so he didn't lose any dignity. The Doctor didn't move his firm gaze from the Darkeese's own pits of blackness as he held Sonic Screwdriver high and sturdy. "You seem like a nice guy. But if you're trying to take my son, then I'm going to be very human about this."

The Doctor paused, swallowed, and tightened his grip on the silver device oh so slightly as he spoke the words in a low voice:

"Get the hell away from my family."

The Darkeese gave a low growl, making to move forward towards him, but the Doctor thrusted forward the Sonic Screwdriver slightly to show he was deadly serious about it. The Darkeese seemed to take this on board, and stepped back away.

"Now," the Doctor continued, and Rose could feel the warm crimson liquid from the Doctor's flesh wound slicking down her front smoothly, making her press herself against him even more. "You can give it up, walk away now with your life – tell your corporation the baby got killed in the midst of chaos and move onto your next mission. Or alternatively, you can get blown to smithereens. What's it gonna be?"

The Darkeese considered the proposition for a moment, weighing up the pros and cons of the argument, before shaking it's head in a negative.

"Despite 'ow temptin' it sounds Doctor, I just can't do that. I gotta remain committed to the job."

"You're sure?" the Doctor asked, sounding slightly disappointed in the decision it had made.

"Totally," it assured him, then lashed out. With lightning quick reactions the Doctor pressed down on the button on the small device, and it activated.

The last thing the Darkeese saw was a blinding wave of blue light coming from the tip of the silver stick the Doctor was holding so firmly, letting out a high-pitched scream of pure despair as the world around it went quiet.

It didn't feel it's body get ripped apart in a thousand piece jigsaw. It didn't feel those parts rapidly melt like ice cubes on a hot summer's day onto the ground. It didn't feel those molecules slip oh so quickly through the gaps in the concrete to the underground beneath.

It didn't even know it had died.

* * *

**A/N:** Rubbish place to leave it, but I couldn't link it up. I can't give a preview of the next chapter coz it's hardly been written, and I can't confirm the name of it yet - I'm not too sure, but it MIGHT be the last chapter. If it isn't, then the one after it is. 


	32. TLC, TCP and the TARDIS

**A/N:** Did...did...I just see two alerts in my inbox? I think I did! Hurry up and work you dumb thing! Maybe I just hallucinated...No, there they are. Two update alerts for the 1st January! Woo!

Onto other things, this isn't the last chapter - and I can't _actually _guarantee the next one will be either. So, like I said - can't follow a writing plan to save my life. There used to be one for this, y'know. Coz I had to keep track of Rose's pregnancy and how far she was along each chapter. I never finished it past chapter twenty-two, which later became chapter twenty-seven.

Screw plans. I changed my test story once from the plan I had originally written on the starter sheet. Teacher didn't care, really. Though I gret a feeling I'm gonna have to start learning to follow plans through GCSE's...

Err anyway. Plot filling and cheap gag chapter because I'm now back at bloomin' school and I'm tired... (Sob)

For anyone who's been going by alerts - you might want to backtrack quite a few chapters.

* * *

Chapter 32 – TLC, TCP and the TARDIS

"Bad Wolf?" Rose asked, the fear plain in her voice as she handed the cup of tea to the Doctor in his bedroom ten minutes later. "But…that's…it's impossible."

"Maybe I misheard or something…" the Doctor said, leaning back into Rose as she gently began to peel off his shirt from the wound he had sustained, and took a sip of sweetened tea. "Those words are easily confused. Probably just a coincidence."

"Yeah, like all the other times?" Rose suddenly said, her voice high and worried. "They turned out to be coincidences and all!"

"Rose, it won't be like last time, I promise."

Rose paused in her nurse act, hugging him from behind and resting her head on his shoulder.

"…I don't want you to die again."

He turned and gave her a small reassuring grin, resting his hand on her arm hugging around his chest.

"Are my new looks just too dazzling for you?" he teased, and she pushed him playfully with a giggle, though didn't deny what he had said.

"Just…don't go dying on me," she said in a voice that seemed to have some forced humour in it.

"Yes ma'am." The Doctor saluted, kissing her on the cheek happily, which she returned with equally as much enthusiasm, before letting go of him and returning to her work.

He winced as she peeled off his ripped and blooded shirt, revealing some long scratches along the left of his back. He flinched as she slowly began to dab at the wound with a tissue drenched in TCP Liquid, occasionally letting out moans of pain as she worked.

"Things I hate; Daleks, Cybermen, and TCP Liquid."

"Oh don't be a wimp!" Rose mockingly hit him, and he cried out again.

"The pain!" he declared in a dramatic voice. "I'm wounded and all _you _can give me is a smack and a mouth full of abuse. Ow!" he cried as Rose pressed onto his injury harder.

"What about the Darkeese?" she suddenly asked, tending to him a little more gently. "We can't keep on runnin' from them for the rest of our lives. Or will they just run out of Darkeese to send after us? Forget the job? Give the payer a refund and recommend the Mafia a light-year or so down the road?"

The Doctor half-smiled, but shook his head negatively. "The Darkeese were mass produced for work before I was even born – they're not beings, they're stationary for a big money grabbing corporation. Like, as you said – Mafia Hitman, paid to do a job they can't back out of without their own existence being under threat. They're all sustained by one machine – the same one that created them."

"So…pull one plug and every Darkeese in the Universe will terminate?"

"Yeah, basically. Sure, they _call _'em a race; even dare to call the Darkeese a species. But they're not. They're nothing but the shipment of pens that arrives at the office in the morning, and anything not used gets put into storage ready for another day when they need 'em. Make a Darkeese, stick in an attitude and you have a perfect assassinator. A figment of someone's imagination brought to artificial life."

"Like a hard-light hologram," Rose beamed, pleased with herself.

"Yeah, in all respect. When I used the sonic, I just cut off the signal from the machine – and the hologram fell to pieces."

"Makes sense," Rose said with a shrug. "Do you need stitches on this?"

"Nah, just stick some protection on it and it'll be fine. But the point is…" he started again as Rose ripped open the endless packets of medical supplies. "As soon as we've got the stuff for Rory, I'll go to the Darkeese HQ and try and find this person Rose, I promise I'll get rid of them. I'm not letting you two get hurt," he reassured as she wrapped the bandage around his chest and gash.

"No, you won't go to the Darkeese HQ after Rory's stuff," Rose suddenly interrupted, continuing her nurse act. "As soon as we've got the stuff for Rory you're gonna take me to that relaxing planet you promised, rest and get better there, and _then _you can go try and kill yourself again," she said determinedly as she pinned the bandage securely around his chest. "Now don't move while I go get ya a clean pyjama top."

"Yes ma'am," the Doctor mock saluted again, putting his cup of tea back on the bedside table and falling back onto the bed as Rose disappeared out the doorway to the TARDIS wardrobe. He lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling absorbed in thought whilst he waited. He seriously had no idea what to do if the trip to the Darkeese HQ failed – and even if he did manage to track down this 'Bad Wolf' person, what would he say? 'Hi there, can you stop trying to take my kid'?

Plus, he'd never admit it to Rose, but he was worried. If the Bad Wolf was about, that could only mean Rose would absorb the Time Vortex again and become the Bad Wolf. But if the Bad Wolf was trying to take Rory, would it have a good reason? Maybe it was trying to protect him?

What if the Doctor let it take Rory?

It just didn't bear thinking about. The Bad Wolf was, in all intention, a force for good. Maybe Rory was in danger and the Doctor just didn't know it? The Doctor didn't think he could live with the guilt of knowing Rory could have been saved if he'd trusted the Bad Wolf.

As well as that, could Rory regenerate?

He was old enough to be able to regenerate now – the only reason Eva hadn't was because she wasn't even detached from her mother when she had died. But it wasn't healthy for a baby Time Lord to regenerate. So many complications came from it, which could be a major trauma to a small child – especially one half-human.

Maybe he shouldn't have told Rose. She'd already had enough nightmares about it to last a lifetime – during the first few weeks with his new body he'd had to comfort her night after night as she woke up screaming his name, absolutely terrified. He didn't want her to have to go through that again. _He _didn't want to go through it again. Having to comfort the person you love as they cry out your name, threatened by a force you can't even protect them from – it hurts.

"I'm back!" Rose's voice suddenly cut through his thought trail, and the Doctor sat back up on the bed again, hiding his obvious worry with a broad smile. "Arm out," she instructed, and he lifted his left arm up for her to slide his pyjama shirt up.

"Wow, so professional!" he beamed as she slipped both his arms into the material and started buttoning up the front. "Almost like you've done it before!"

Rose suddenly stopped tending to him, turning a nice shade of pink, but kept her mouth shut as she got back her focus and finished doing up the buttons.

He stared at her. "…What?"

She didn't answer again, almost looking like she was trying to hold back a snigger as she pulled him onto his feet and pulled back the bed cover.

"Roooose!" he moaned, and she just put her hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him down into sitting position on the mattress. "Whaaat?"

"Did you ever wonder…" she started, pushing him down to lay in the bed. "How you magically changed from wearin' your old self's stuff into pyjamas on Christmas Eve?"

"…Oh."

"Don't worry," she added with a grin as she pulled up the cover around him, sitting on the bed on his right. "Mum did the obvious bit."

The Doctor paled as he just gawped at her in horror. "Your…mum…has…seen…my-"

"Yep," she cut over the top of him, reaching for the light switch by the head of the bed.

"Suddenly it all becomes clear…" he muttered, staring up at the ceiling.

All those little smiles she'd given him post his regeneration. All those small gestures of friendliness, like making him a cup of tea or giving him some spare money when he had taken Rose out in the New Year. The way she had looked at him and said, "hmm, not bad, not bad…"

"URGH!!!!"

"Rest up!" Rose grinned, flicking off the light and getting off of his bed, starting towards the door.

"Who are you - Nurse Rose?"

"Yep!" She smiled back, leaning in the doorway with her hand resting on the doorknob. "And as Nurse Rose I recommend plenty of bed rest, fluids and of course, the maximum amount of Tender Loving Care."

"Mmm, that'd be nice…" the Doctor said tiredly as he turned over to a more comfortable position.

"I'll be back in ten minutes to check on you – don't you even _dare _think about trying to get up and tweak the TARDIS."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he murmured, closing his eyes as the door clicked shut.


	33. Crazy, Crazy Penguins!

**A/N: **And so this fic clings onto the last morsels of life, this isn't the last chapter! Yeah, I'm the sort of person who insists the drawer _will _shut with a few good whacks.

This chapter concentrates on the more...lustful side of parenthood. Plus, can I just say, I have no idea what this obessession I have with penguins is at the moment, but just ride with it, it'll be over soon!

* * *

Chapter 33 – Crazy, Crazy Penguins!

The Doctor moved tiredly around the TARDIS over the next few days, his concussion really taking its toll on his usually robust health. Every few hours Rose found him snoozing in the most strangest of places, from the hard wooden kitchen chair to the squidgy library beanbag to her own bedroom on the fluffy rug in the middle of the floor.

All this from an alien man who hadn't appeared to need hardly any sleep at all before now, was extremely perplexing, if not slightly worrying.

Rose had totally given up on trying to talk him into staying in bed and resting - partly because he blindly refused to be confined for twenty-four hours a day without freedom to have a walk; and partly because she _wanted_ him wandering around the TARDIS. She liked having him nearby at all times.

Jackie had agreed to stay and look after Rory whilst Rose took care of her still slightly confused and disoriented Doctor, who had only yesterday mistaken an orange for a apple and had spent half of that day wondering why the Orange Juice tasted slightly off.

Howard had even offered to stay for a bit to help Jackie whilst Mickey insisted he was good for doing quick shopping trips wherever and whenever they were needed.

During the times he _was_ awake, the Doctor, with a little help from Mickey and Howard, had built a makeshift cot for Rory before he and Rose went on their shopping trip. They would go, they decided, when the Doctor was well enough to travel again - which seemed quite a long way away, from Rose's examinations of him in the Infirmary.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Rose asked as she held up three fingers to the Doctor, waving them slightly to indicate their presence to him. God only knew how many times Rose had asked him this question now, because even despite his protests that he had a headache, double vision and had forgotten how to count, she still insisted on doing a daily check-up. He sighed to himself warily, tapping his fingers in a silent melody against his leg.

"Err…" he closed his left eye and looked intently at the proffered fingers, before opening his right and closing his left, and then opening them both again and looking for a third time, after which just shrugged in dismay. "One eye says three, both eyes together say six."

"Hmm…"

Rose turned to consult the giant medical encyclopaedia she had managed to salvage from the TARDIS library, resting open on the metal equipment table to her left. She traced a finger down the page towards the bold writing halfway down which screamed, '**CONCUSSION**' in big, bold, black font with a picture of a pencil drawn man rubbing his head.

'_The signs and symptoms of a concussion include severe headache, dizziness, vomiting, increased size of one pupil or sudden weakness in an arm or leg. The person may seem restless, agitated or irritable. As the brain tissue swells, the person may feel increasingly drowsy or confused, with double vision and heavy fatigue. If the person is difficult to awaken or passes out, medical attention should be sought immediately. This could be a sign of a more severe injury.'_

'**RECOMMENDED TREATMENT**'

'_Rest is the cure. If you suspect memory loss, try asking the patient a string of memory probing questions such as: How many planets are in the Galaxy? Who is the current Prime Minister? What is your middle name? What is the date of your best friend's birthday? Etc.'_

"Doctor, I need to ask a few little questions, that okay?" Rose asked, dropping to sit on the Infirmary bed beside him with the heavy medical book open on her lap.

"Yep."

"Okay…" She read the top question, "how many planets are in the Galaxy?"

"…Which Galaxy?" he asked with a small grin, leaning over and looking into the medical book over her shoulder with interest.

"Err…Milky Way."

"Well, that's debatable, isn't it? I mean, first of all, you have a ton of undiscovered planets in your Galaxy that you've failed to notice, plus, where you're from they discovered Planet X – which by the way, sounds like something out of a dodgy superhero anime – and _then _decided Pluto wasn't a planet! It's insane! Have you humans ever _been _to Pluto? No! So you don't even know what's on there, do you?"

"Err…we know it's made of ice," Rose proposed, giving a small nervous shrug.

"Yeah, and people _live _there! Well, not _people _as such, more…penguins…but still, they were _so _offended when I found out and went to tell them! They got so infuriated they tried to kill me! Imagine that? There I was, standing all sweet and innocent when suddenly a penguin sneaked up behind me and throttled me unconscious! They're crazy Rose! Crazy, crazy penguins!"

She stared at his quite serious face blankly for a moment, wondering how a penguin could possibly strangle a being five times its height. Looking back down at the big book, she traced her forefinger along the list of symptoms to see if she could find 'nonsensical ramblings about penguins', but could see nothing.

"So," she started again, as though the past minute or so had never even happened. "How many planets are in the Milky Way?"

"Your time - nine or ten, depending on your outlook," the Doctor replied flippantly, waving an uncaring hand. "But how's that saying gonna go now with Planet X? Y'know, on that video with the Jamaican guy. My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets, Pal. Or, Many Vile Earthlings Munch Jam Sandwiches Under Newspaper Piles, Porky." He paused for a moment, tapping his chin slightly and nodding his head, urging his thoughts on. "Or will it just be 'X'? 'Cause then it would be My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets, Xena. Or if they got _rid _of Pluto it would be My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Xylophones. _Or…"_"

"Doctor…"

"You humans! Name all of your Earthly things after your Solar System! Mars the chocolate bar, Milky Way the chocolate bar, Galaxy the chocolate bar, Venus the beauty shop, The Sun newspaper, Comet electrical shop, Uranus, your anu-"

"Doctor!"

He stopped rather abruptly and blinked at her; suddenly realising he'd gone off into another rant.

"Oh, sorry," he muttered, blushing slightly red and looking at the floor, twiddling with his thumbs like a disciplined schoolboy. Rose just smiled at him in pity.

"Well, it took a while, but you got it right!" She gave the embarrassed Doctor a quick peck on the cheek in congratulations before consulting her book again. "Okay, who's the current Prime Minister?"

"…By current, d'you mean 2006?"

"Yeah."

"And in which Universe?"

"This one!"

"Oh…Harriet Jones," he finally answered, and Rose smiled again, scanning back down the book page to the next question – and stared.

"…What's your middle name?" she read and glanced up at him, not hiding the sly smile slowly spreading over her face. He just raised an eyebrow at her, giving a flash of a grin.

"So what's the verdict, Nurse? Am I going to live?" he completely ignored the question, beaming widely at her to proclaim his innocence instead. She held him in her regard for a moment, before straightening her facial features to an impassive gaze into his deep brown eyes.

"Doctor," she whispered in a heart broken voice, "you only have two hours left to live."

The Doctor knew she was only joking, but all the same, he flushed slightly pink as she climbed slowly onto his legs on the Infirmary bed with forced him to lay on his back, so she was pinning him down whilst tracing a sensuous finger down his jaw line and throat.

"Really? That's…terrible," he said in a broken high-pitched voice, which was shortly followed by a surprised yelp as she adjusted her sitting position on his pelvis. "Really…really…"

"So, as your personal nurse, I'll be willin' to make your last hours as comfortable as possible…"

"Feeling uncomfortable here…"

"I know, I can feel it…" Rose grinned, shifting her sitting position to a less bumpy surface. "Doesn't take much to seduce you, does it?"

He squeaked like a small vulnerable mouse as she reached up a hand to his neck and gently loosened his tie, eyes watching his Adam's apple bob up and down as he gulped. She leant forward and kissed him gently on the neck, working her way up towards his lips. She had just reached his jaw when there was a small, yet polite cough from the doorway, and the Doctor turned his head in surprise to see Mickey, looking slightly awkwardly at the scene infront of him.

"I'm thinkin' maybe I should have knocked first," Mickey half joked, forcing a small grin at the Doctor whilst Rose continued to kiss the alien along his jaw line.

"That is not what it looks like," the Doctor suddenly said in a hesitant voice, eyes wide and staring at Mickey in pure embarrassment.

"It looks like Rose is tryin' to undress ya usin' just 'er tongue."

The Doctor swallowed nervously, nodding in the affirmative as she reached his bottom lip.

"Then it _is _what it looks like."

It was then Mickey decided to look away and state the reason for his presence rather than watch the fireworks infront as Rose reached the Time Lord's lips.

"Err…Jackie just sent me to tell you dinner'll be ready in a few minutes," he said mildly, picking at his fingernails to try and create some sort of distraction for himself.

"Mmm…" Rose and the Doctor replied together in the midst of an extremely passionate kiss.

"In the second kitchen," Mickey went on, starting to turn away towards the corridor outside. "She said to try and not be late."

"Mmm…"

"It's spaghetti, I think."

"Mmm…" the Doctor and Rose replied, not really listening.

"So, I'll be leaving now…" Mickey gave an offhand wave as he disappeared out the doorway and the pad of footsteps slowly disappeared into the constant TARDIS sounds.

The Doctor and Rose finally parted after ten more seconds, both gasping for lost breath through the midst of the kiss. Rose was the first to regain her strength, pulling herself up off of the Doctor as he lay panting on the bed, trying desperately to balance his lustful hormonal activity so he didn't have to walk with his back to Jackie or a random hat over his crotch.

Staring up at the blank TARDIS ceiling, he finally levelled out his breathing to relatively normal before having the strength to say in a small voice, "I think I need a cold shower."


	34. Liver Transplants

**A/N: **Okay, I KNOW this had droaned on a little, but the next chapter's DEFINATELY the last chapter, I TOTALLY promise that. So just gotta hang on for a lil bit longer...

And there is a possiblity to how Jack's Torchwood got up and running in this chapter - but no spoilers.

* * *

Chapter 34 – Liver Transplants

The Doctor arrived at the second kitchen five minutes late, much to Jackie's annoyance. He stood in the doorway rubbing his wet hair rather erratically with a white towel, making it all stand on end as he drew it away.

"Glad you could join us," Jackie said, "there's some left for you."

Throwing the towel carelessly across the room to the kitchen worktop, he slid quietly into the vacant seat and took up his cutlery, quick ruffling his half-dried hair into even more of a mess, before staring blankly at the plate of Spaghetti Bolognese infront of him.

"…Spaghetti," he breathed, watching the plate with wide searching eyes as he picked up his fork, and stared at it. Rose watched him closely, observing him as everyone else was whilst he clutched the fork in his fist, like a young child learning how to eat with a knife and fork for the first time. He stabbed it into the spaghetti with a fair amount of force, brought it back up and stared at what he had managed to get – which was absolutely nothing.

Rose sighed pitifully as she watched him attempt the same task again, only to end up nearly stabbing himself through the eye with his fork. She got up from her seat beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder to take the fork from his fist, but he declined with his hand as he moved it out of her way.

"No, s'ok, I can do it," he insisted, dropping the useless fork back to the side of the placemat as he got onto his feet. He walked over to a kitchen cupboard and pulled it open, withdrawing a large plastic measuring jug from within.

He walked back over to the dinner table and sat the jug next to his plate, which he picked up and slowly tipped sideways to let all the spaghetti, meat and juices flow freely into the jug. Everyone was now staring at him in mild perplexity, and he dropped the now clear plate back onto the mat to take the jug, and lifted it in a toast.

"Cheers," he said with a wink at Rose, and raised the jug to his lips.

* * *

"And then the Doctor goes, 'I'm sorry, I thought it was a kiwi'!" 

There was an almighty burst of the thunderous roar of drunken laughter as Rose completed her anecdote, everyone gathered around the table either slightly tipsy or crazy hyper. The Doctor was just sitting with his drink of water in one hand, watching them all as they progressively got worse and worse.

"D'you wanna drink Doctor?" Mickey asked casually, hand poised over the nearly drained bottle of pure vodka.

"Nah Mickey," Rose suddenly piped up before the Doctor had a chance to answer. "My Doctor doesn't drink right now 'cause he hit his poor head, and drinkin' after you hit your noggin is _bad _for you." She snuggled up close to the Doctor, clutching his almost fully healed broken arm between her own as she giggled insanely at him.

He looked down at her with a contented sigh; truly glad he wasn't drunk, as he'd probably choke to death on his own laughter.

"Doctor," Rose started in a drunken voice, giggling helplessly again. "D'you know what turns me on about you?"

The Doctor smiled slightly, draining his glass in one go and swallowing before answering, "my unconventional good looks?"

"No…well, yeah, but I wasn't saying _that…" _She traced her thumb over his lip and beamed happily at him. "I think you're _really _smart," she smiled seductively as he set the empty glass onto the table and put both his arms protectively around her. "So smart you're the smartest smart guy I've ever known in the whole history of smart guys."

"Rose," Jackie started in an incredibly drunken voice – something which the Doctor had never actually seen before. "No more grandchildren!"

"I agree," Mickey declared loudly, waving the vodka bottle about in the air before knocking it back in one shot, burping loudly, and then collapsing unconscious onto the table. Rose raised an unbalanced hand and pointed at him, giggling loudly.

"Haha! He's _dead!"_ She laughed like it was the most hysterical occurrence in the world. She looked up at the Doctor again; her giggling ceasing as she stared at his almost cut and bruise free face. Suddenly Rose leant forward towards his ear and whispered loudly into the core, "what d'you say we leave these party poopers and go have some fun, tiger?"

"Rose…" the Doctor started uncertainly, looking down at her to meet her eyes; however instead, he met them closed, coupled with the sound of gentle snoring. She was asleep.

Looking up at the drunken party around the dining table, he was astonished to find they were all asleep, the empty Vodka bottle hanging loosely from Mickey's fingers like it was his last penance.

The Doctor leant back in his chair again, making a mental note with himself to get Rose in to Alcoholics Anonymous. Frankly, he wasn't surprised he had ended up doing what he had done with her last time – she was very flirtatious when drunk, and the Doctor, as far as Jackie had described him, had developed an 'if it moves – or even if it doesn't – shag it' attitude whilst inebriated; it was a match made in heaven.

Lifting the intoxicated Rose up into his arms, he made his way back with her sleeping form to the Infirmary. He'd figured he'd need to give her a stomach pump and some meds to relieve the worst of her hangover, still feeling positively delighted that he was sober to do this.

After she was comfortable, he made his way back to the sleeping company. Re-entering the kitchen was like entering some sort of student party in the early hours of the New Year. It was 'avoid the dead bodies strewn across the floor' as he made his way back over to Jackie, casually tossing a blanket over her and slipping a pillow under her head whilst she slept. It was the least he could do for everything she'd helped him and Rose with over the past two weeks or so.

Taking a glance at Mickey and Howard, he regretfully decided he needed sleep more than he needed to move them, so he slowly dragged himself back into the Infirmary and collapsed down into the seat next to Rose's bed. He pillowed his head on his hands and closed his eyes, dozing off into dreamland for the night with a silent whisper of gratitude to the TARDIS for putting up with this.

* * *

"Ugh, at this rate I think I'm gonna need a liver transplant," was the first thing Rose murmured as she began to stir from her alcohol induced sleep, head pounding like a bass drum as she turned onto her stomach and threw the pillow over her aching head. 

"Y'know, I never used to drink till I met you," the Doctor's voice suddenly came, sounding muffled and distant from the pillow currently covering her ears. "Now I feel like it should become routine. Isn't that so human of me?"

"You could never be a human," Rose insisted, pulling back the pillow and looking out the gap at him through a mess of blonde hair. He beamed back at her from where he stood across the room, holding a tray of what looked like a cup of coffee and a giant refill jug.

"Gimme!" Rose produced a small hand out from underneath the heap of covers, waving it about in an undead-like manner towards the Doctor as he walked over to her and sat on the chair by her bed.

"Jack would be proud of you, y'know," the Doctor said offhandedly as he set down the tray on the side table and leant forward over her, pulling her up to sitting position. "Pity he isn't here – where did he disappear to, by the way?"

* * *

Captain Jack Harkness was smiling his usual charming smile, swaggering into the Boss' office like a man who knew his place. The truth was – he was probably going to be fired. Fired, memory wipe, left abandoned on the street as a homeless. It was an exciting prospect. 

Earlier he'd erased all records of the Doctor's appearance from the Torchwood archive, and he was sure they'd caught him hacking. It had been risky enough trying to appear like Howard, Rose and the Doctor had just gotten away from him that night, knowing full well the idea of him not being able to catch a pregnant woman, a well fed man and an unconscious alien was a little demeaning for a man of his muscled and trimmed figure.

"Captain Jack Harkness reportin', ma'am," Jack said to the boss with a formal salute. "You wanted to see me?"

Yvonne Hartman looked up from studying various pictures spread out over her desk, smiling at him in reply.

"Please Jack, call me Yvonne."

Jack nodded with his charismatic smile, looking down at her desk to examine the polaroids from where he stood - managing to catch a glimpse of the Doctor's escape party taken from CCTV footage, and a couple of lone photos of just the Doctor to catalogue his injuries. Jack hoped he was a lot better now.

Yvonne noticed the smile Jack had previously worn now hardened, his face in a serious expression as he stared at the grouped photos on her desk.

"It was Him," Yvonne said, pushing some of the photos towards Jack and gesturing pointedly to the chair the other side of her desk. "Description fits."

Jack stared down at the photos, feeling slightly irritated at the prospect of people taking photos of you whilst you're unconscious. "Him?"

"The Doctor," she said, as if it should have been obvious. "We could have used Him for so much…"

Trying not to wonder what that 'much' might be, he leant back in his chair again and tried to reassert his smile. "What's all this got to do with me, Yvonne?" he asked politely, fearing the worst.

Her next word came as something of a shock to him. "Promotion."

Jack's smile didn't falter. Infact, he just blinked in surprise, unable to believe his own two ears.

"…I'm sorry?"

"Promotion," Yvonne repeated, staring him straight in the eyes with a firm, yet contented look, a small pitiful smile crossing her features.

"And what in this promotion?" he asked, realising this conversation was now turning into the battle of who had the most attractive smile.

"I liked the way you handled the last intake, Jack. I'm offering you a chance. There's an open branch in Cardiff, Torchwood Three. I can offer you staff, funds and intelligence up to a point. You'll be working on your own, but we'll overlook. So. You want the job?"

Jack became hesitant. If he didn't take the job, he'd never be able to get out of this place. If he did however, he'd have a whole new set of problems to address, involving staff and battling on his own.

But, what did he really want?

He wanted to get out there again. Fight the fight. Make life not a chore, but a fun thing to have. Maybe…maybe he could even find the Doctor again. He was already regretting the decision he'd taken that night now – the Doctor had offered him salvation but like an idiot he had declined, thinking he had a chance in this old dump.

Aware Yvonne was looking at him for an answer, he raised his head, and gave one short, affirmative nod.

"Consider it taken, boss."


	35. And So Our Intrepid Travellers

**A/N: **Of COURSE I had to use the bio-dampers scene. How could I resist?

And I know why David had a change in suit from the production side now. His suits were custom made by the costume designer of Doctor Who from a material found from a pair of trousers in a high street store. It's a thin cotton material and easily damaged, and David used up all of the half a dozen or so made during the last series. The material, like I said, is uncommonly found, so they can't remake the suit again and currently only have one or something left. So that's why he's reverted to blue. Wow. I read too much.

So after that brief lecture, this is the last chapter. Everyone go 'awww'!

* * *

Chapter 35 – And So Our Intrepid Travellers…

_Bad Wolf._

The two words had been echoing back and forth through her mind, ever since the Doctor had told her that's what wanted to take Rory. But Bad Wolf was herself…

That could only mean the Doctor was going to be in danger soon.

But at the cost of losing his son, what actions would the Doctor take against the Bad Wolf if, or more accurately, _when_ he met it? He'd already proved he was willing to kill when it came to protecting his family, so would that mean…?

"Hey dreamer, you okay?" a soft voice asked in her ear, and Rose was soothed back to the real world by the Doctor's warm breath arriving periodically on the back of her neck.

"I was just thinkin'…" Rose started, unsure whether she should actually tell him or not.

"Don't strain yourself," the Doctor said with a grin, sliding next to her on the captain's seat and leaning forward, elbows on thighs with his chin in his hands.

Rose's face remained impassive however, raising her head to look at the Doctor's two brown eyes, seeing herself reflecting in their shine.

"Can I ask you somethin'?" she asked, not moving her gaze. The Doctor's eyes immediately seemed to be awash with guilt as he stared at her, sheepishly.

"If this is about that Lion King DVD, I swear that was just a phase…" he said quickly, but Rose was swift to cut him off with her expression of regret and sorrow. "What?"

"If you ever met the Bad Wolf again, and it was trying to take Rory…" She held her look. "…Would you kill it?"

The Doctor didn't answer straight away. He just lifted his head out of hands and turned around the face her, his usually cheeky grin replaced by a look of hard sincerity.

"Yes, I would."

Rose looked down at the floor, refusing to let her tears run as she knew that one day, the Doctor would be in danger and she would end up dying by his hands.

"But…" the Doctor carried on, searching out her hand and giving it a quick squeeze of reassurance, and she looked up at his almost free of injury face. "I would kill the entity, not the person holding the entity."

"Phew," Rose sighed with a laugh, leaning forward towards him. "You do that bloody deliberately don't you?"

"Mmm," he replied as they kissed softly on the lips. Rose lifted her hand to the Doctor's head in mid kiss, searching out the bump of concussion she knew would be there. He winced slightly and pulled away as her fingers traced lightly over a swell, pulling her hand off with his own.

"How's it feelin'?" she asked, and he again, didn't reply straight away. He reached up his own hand and traced his fingers gently down her cheek.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Hmm?"

"I think I'm ready to leave now."

Rose just stared at him. "…I'm sorry?"

"I've already told Jackie, Mickey and Howard to pack. It's time we left these three to their own lives and got back to what we always did."

Rose continued to fix him with a dangerous glare. Slowly she raised her hand, bringing up four fingers infront of his vision and giving them a wave.

"Tell me how many fingers I'm holdin' up," she said slowly and plainly, but he simply knocked them away with his unbroken hand.

"Rose, you're not going to sway me on this. I don't care if I still can't red from green, I've had enough of sitting around."

"But…if the Bad Wolf comes back…" Rose started in protest, but the Doctor shook his head, holding her closer to him with a protective arm.

"I promise Rose, I will only take us where neither of us can be hurt for the moment. Then there's no need for the Bad Wolf to come back."

"But…"

"Shopping centres in space always have the maximum amount of security, then we'll go to one of the most secure R+R centres where we'll be the safest we've ever been. I'll have optional daily check-ups and there are guards everywhere to ensure our safety. Plus, I got these…"

The Doctor held up a hand with two, what looked like wedding rings clutched between his fingers.

"Bio-dampers," he said in explanation, and Rose hid her slight disappointment with a genuine smile.

"Thought you were gonna marry me then." She extended her wedding finger for him to slide on the ring.

"With this ring, I thee bio-damp," he declared, lifting her now ringed hand and giving it a kiss.

"What about Rory?" Rose asked anxiously, suddenly realising she didn't have him in her arms – relaxing only when she realised her mother had him. "Can't they detect him?"

"Doesn't give off enough energy," the Doctor replied, slipping on his own ring. "Wow, me, married…who'd want to marry me?"

"I do." Rose beamed, leaning forward and kissing him on the lips tenderly. The Doctor groaned at the cliché, but all the same, didn't refuse the kiss.

"And they totally can't find us now?" Rose asked as she pulled away.

"As long as we don't yell, I'm sure we'll be fine."

Rose sighed, knowing she was defeated. "Okay. You win. But…" She rested her hand on his arm and let it tighten into a firm grip around his wrist. "Look straight into my eyes Doctor, and swear to me that you're completely protected."

He didn't look away, but instead looked even harder into her eyes – almost as if he was flicking through her thoughts. "I am completely protected, Rose."

"What are you two talkin' 'bout then?" Jackie's voice suddenly interrupted from somewhere behind them, and the Doctor and Rose almost jumped in surprise. Caught off guard, Rose opened her mouth without even thinking to explain the Bad Wolf – but luckily the Doctor got there before she could.

"We were just talking about what we need to get Rory," he lied, getting onto his feet and offering a hand to Rose to help her up, which she took. "And I know the perfect place to buy it all! 'Transgalatic Hyperspace Hypergo Market'! Honest Rose, you'll love it! It's got _everything! _It's like the Universal version of Trago Mills!"

"Can't wait!" Rose laughed at him as she watched him dance over to the TARDIS doors, swinging them open majestically to the unloading passengers.

Jackie, Howard and Mickey came bearing suitcases and backpacks, wandering through the Console Room to the open doors at the other end. Just as Jackie was about to go out the door, she turned and handed the Doctor a bundle of blankets.

"Here's your son, by the way," she said, "and his eyes are gold again. …He's very weird." And with that, she disappeared out the TARDIS doors, followed shortly by Howard and Mickey. The Doctor took a glance at Rose, gesturing at the door with his free hand. "You coming?"

"Sure. I'll put Rory to bed first."

"Oh, okay," the Doctor said as he looked lovingly down at the sleeping child in his arms, rocking him back and forth gently. Rose stepped towards him and slipped her arms under the blankets, lifting the boy out of his father's grip.

The Doctor bent down to his son and kissed him on the forehead, before looking up at Rose and smiling as he put a hand on the side of her neck and leant forward – being careful not to crush Rory in the process – and kissed her lightly on the lips. He could feel her smiling against him as he drew away, before turning around to go out the double blue doors.

"Doctor?"

He looked back over his shoulder at her. "Yeah?"

"Are Rory's eyes gold or brown?"

"Brown," he answered straight. "Outside the TARDIS, anyway. If he comes in the TARDIS, they're gold."

"Any idea why?"

"Not the foggiest." He beamed, before turning to go again. "Don't be long," he added, and with that, he slipped out the TARDIS doors to Jackie, Mickey and Howard.

"Where's Rose?" Jackie asked him as he walked towards them, shrugging on his coat with his hands stuck in his pockets. He gestured behind him at the TARDIS.

"Putting Rory to bed."

She nodded understandingly, before looking at him, frowning.

"Are ya sure you're ready for this?" she asked, examining his outwardly appearance over with a casual glance. The Doctor just nodded sharply, taking his hands out his pockets and folding his arms in a determined way.

"Jackie, there may be two of you standing infront of me right now, but I swear if you so much as give Rose or Rory a bad word, you will wish that you'd never met me."

"Oh, Doctor's gone domestic," Jackie mocked, giving him a hearty playful shove, to which he winced and grabbed his ribs.

"Oi! I'm still on the mend here y'know."

She just ignored him. "Who'd 'ave thought it, ay? You and Rose parents! I never thought I'd say this – but I think you and Rose should sleep in the same bed from now on."

The Doctor went pale.

"…I'm sorry?" he asked, staring at her uncomprehendingly.

"You. Rose. Same bed," she said slowly and punctually, as if she were talking to a three-year-old.

The Doctor simply blinked.

"Doctor, you have a kid now. How's it gonna look if his parents don't even sleep in the same bed as each other?"

"…You're letting me sleep in the same bed as your daughter after what happened before?"

Jackie just sniffed. "I think I can trust ya not to do the same thing again, can't I?"

"…Probably," he muttered, unconvincingly.

"And if ya really can't stop yourselves, please take all precautions."

"Yes ma'am," the Doctor saluted, full well realising that he'd have to go to the Chemist's for all this, as all the items he had in the TARDIS were probably horrendously out of date.

"Another few things on the shopping list?" Rose asked casually from the doorway of the TARDIS, before stepping forward towards them and stopping next to the Doctor, her arms now free of Rory.

"Rose," Mickey suddenly piped up from the side, almost forgotten in the talking. "I think I am a bit of an idiot really, 'cause I still love ya."

"You'd do anythin' for me, wouldn't ya?" Rose asked with a grin, accepting the brief, yet warm hug from Mickey that followed. "I'll hold you to that, y'know."

Mickey pulled away and turned to the Doctor, extending a hand.

"Boss," he said strongly, and the Doctor grasped his hand in the firmest grip he could with his still partly crushed ligaments from Rose's own clutch, and shook it unwaveringly.

"Mickey," the Doctor replied, but no more needed saying after the thanking look they were both exchanging for reasons only the two of them knew. Mickey let go of the Doctor's hand, and with a final glance at Rose, he turned away and headed back to his own residence, alone.

"Doctor," came that Irish accent and the Doctor turned to meet Howard staring down at him with a characteristic Irish smile, and crippled as the supportive hand hit his shoulder again like a sack of bricks. "G'luck out there."

"Thanks," the Doctor replied weakly, struggling to keep his footing as the hand was lifted and Howard turned to Rose, kissing her on the cheek like a father to daughter relationship.

"Oh Rose," Jackie suddenly started, almost welling up into tears at having to say goodbye to her daughter for another time and gripping her into a tight hug. "Don't let him push you around!"

"Mum, s'fine. I have my trusty foot and a deadly aim if he steps outta line," she assured her mother as she drew away, and Rose turned to the Doctor, leaning against him and holding him close.

"I love you," she whispered into his chest, and he smiled, kissing her hair gently.

"Love you too."

They stood there for quite a long time, holding each other like they'd never let go. Rose knew she probably wouldn't. But as she felt his ribs beneath her hug, she realised she might be hurting him so she drew away. Then she was struck by a thought.

"Doctor, that night…after the crash…" Rose said after she had pulled away, looking up into his eyes. "D'you remember me tellin' you a story?"

He paused for a moment, turning it over in his mind, before he shook his head in a negative. "No. Why?"

Rose gave him a half-smile, perhaps slightly disappointed, letting go of his hand.

"It doesn't matter."

And with that, she had disappeared back into the TARDIS.

The Doctor stood staring at the double blue doors Rose had just went into for a moment, lost in his own thoughts. As he rounded back to Jackie, he saw Jackie and Howard sharing a rather romantic farewell between each other, before Howard stepped into his car, starting up the engine.

The Doctor stepped forward to the love engrossed Jackie, waving goodbye to Howard with her, as he pulled away onto the main road and merged into the dense thickness of the rush hour traffic.

"Jackie…?" the Doctor started, slipping his hands into his pockets again.

"Mmm?" she replied, not taking her eyes off of the fading green Pickup truck which was starting to disappear over the horizon.

"Do you believe…there's another living person that has the other half of your soul?"

Jackie smiled to both him and herself, not turning as the Pickup containing Howard O'Hanon disappeared from view.

"I know it."

A brief few seconds passed, before she turned back around to face the still battered Doctor, her arms folded.

"As for you mister," she started, and the Doctor instantly looked down to his shoes, expecting a long lecture on safe sex and how she didn't want another alien grandchild in the family. "I'm not gonna give you anymore of a hard time than I normally do, 'cause you're really in a league of ya own. What you did took guts, and the last thing I want is for you to go about mournin' for your dead and buried little girl, and neglectin' the boy that's still alive."

The Doctor began to shake his head in protest, but Jackie rested a silencing hand on his shoulder.

"I _know _you're gonna deny it, 'cause I know you inside out Doctor. But I'll tell ya what else I know." She smiled at him reassuringly. "You're gonna give that child an even better life than any parent could even imagine of givin' theirs. Now shoo, you gotta learn how to change nappies."

He grinned. "All I do is give and give!" he casually sang into the air, turning around to go back into the TARDIS.

"And look after Rose!!!" Jackie called after him angrily, and he mock saluted to her without turning around.

"No slime dripping six headed monster shall consume your daughter while _I'm _around Jackie!"

And with that, he jumped happily up into the air, clicking his heels together in mid-air, before walking on. As he reached the already open TARDIS doors, he groaned loudly, doubling over in pain, holding his legs.

"Won't be doing that again for a while," he grimaced, before straightening up, slipping through the TARDIS doors that promptly clicked closed behind him.

Then it happened. The familiar churning sensation of the TARDIS as the light began to flashing, pulsating in a steady rhythm, fading, fading, fading…until all that remained was Jackie Tyler, staring at a graffitied metal wall on the edge of the Powell Estate, still smiling.

Then she turned, two words floating through her mind.

_Cuppa tea._

**The End  
**

* * *

**A/N: **Of course, I'm giving out all my thanks again. 

First and foremost, as always, to the **reviewers and readers**. Thank you SO SO SO SO SO SO SO much for staying with me throughout the whole of this, I know it's been a long fic. I'll be replying to all the reviews that are reply-able to after this chapter, so make it count! This is the most read story I've ever written and I love y'all to pieces for sticking with me for so long! YEAH!!! (Waves flag)

Second just HAS to go to my science teacher, **Mr. Sutton**. Without your lessons, the boredom and craving to write this fic would have never come! I'm not at leisure to enclose my name with this, by the way.

Third, to **Curses**. I _really _love you to absolute death, and when I say death, I _mean_ it. I really, really, really, really, really, really love you.

Last - but definately not least - thank you brain and imagination. For witho;ut you, I would be a non-sensical rambler! Oh...wait...too late.

So this is me, signing off from _The Long Meaningful Ramble_.

I always liked that title.

P.S: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! (Without sounding like I'm begging too much, but I really do love to hear what y'all think and I will reply to all those that I can!)


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